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THE 

TIPPECANOE BATTLE-FIELD 
MONUMENT 




THE TIPPECANOE MONUMENT COMMISSION. 

GOVERNOR J. FRANK HANLY. 
ALBERT A. JOISTES. WESLEY E. WELLS. JOB S. SIMS. 



THE 

TIPPECANOE BATTLE-FIELD 
MONUMENT 



A History of the Association Formed to 
Promote the Enterprise 

The action of Congress and the Indiana Legislature 

The Work of the Commission and the 
Ceremonies at the Dedication 
of the Monument 



COMPILED BY 
ALVA O. I^ESER 



•prints bg tlj? Btutt of Sttirtana 



INDIANAPOLIS : 

WM. I?. P.URFORD, CONTRACTOR FOR STATE PRINTING AND BINDING 
1909 



REPORT OF COMMISSION TO GOVERNOR. 



Indianapolis, Ind., November 23, 1908. 

To the Hon. J. Frank Hanly, 

Governor of the State of Indiana: 

Sir — The Indiana Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument Commis- 
sion begs to report that pursuant to an act of the General Assem- 
bly, authorizing the construction of the Tippecanoe Battle-field 
Monument, approved February 25, 1907, the undersigned Com- 
missioners appointed by you have carried out the provisions of said 
act. 

Under the Federal act, authorizing the appointment of a com- 
mission and making an appropriation for the construction of the 
monument, it became necessary to draw the appropriation made by 
the State and turn it over to the Federal Government, to be ex- 
pended under the direction of the War Department, through the 
Federal commission. 

The monument was completed and dedicated November 7, 1908. 
A detailed report, showing the proceedings of the Commission and 
an accurate account of all disbursements made, has been made to 
the Honorable Secretary of War, and the same is attached hereto 
and made a part of this report. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Job S. Sims. 
Wesley E. Wells. 
A. A. Jones. 

APR 13 1909 

ft ©rD^ 



(4) 



REPORT OF COMMISSION TO SECRETARY OF WAR. 



Indianapolis, Ind., November 23, 1908. 

To the Hon. Luke C. Wright, 

Secretary of War, Washington, D. C: 

Sir — The Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument Commission here- 
with submits a detailed report of the expenditures and proceedings 
of the Commission in the erection of the Tippecanoe Battle-field 
Monument. Accompanying this is a history of the project, a 
number of addresses delivered upon the battle-field at various times, 
and the dedicatory exercises. The addresses are submitted because 
of their historic value. 

Respectfully submitted, 

J. Frank Hanly, 
Job S. Sims, 
A. A. Jones, 

Commissioners. 



(5) 



History of the Monument Project. 



The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought November 7, 1811. The 
importance of this battle was recognized by President Madison in 
a message to Congress, and by resolutions passed by the legisla- 
tures of Indiana Territory, and Kentucky and Illinois Territory. 
It was recognized in the early history of the State by the fact that, 
when new counties were organized, it became the unwritten law of 
those days that these new counties should be named after some hero 
of this battle. 

The decade from 1830 to 1840 showed considerable activity 
with reference to the preservation of the battle-ground, and the 
erection of a monument thereon. This interest was largely aroused 
by Gen. John Tipton, Governor Noah Noble and Gen. William 
Henry Harrison. General Tipton, in 1829, rode on horseback 
from Logansport to Crawfordsville, bought the land on which the 
battle was fought, and, on November 7, 1836, he donated it to 
the State of Indiana. At each session of the legislature during 
the decade from 1830 to 1840 resolutions were offered (and sev- 
eral adopted) instructing the Governor to get a design for a monu- 
ment at the battle-field of Tippecanoe. Gen. William Henry Har- 
rison voiced this sentiment in 1835 in an address at the Tippecanoe 
battle-field, in which he said : 

We should not be unmindful of our soldiers who fell on the field of Tippe- 
canoe, and whose exertions when living, and whose blood in death, made and 
cemented the foundations of our prosperity. The ridge upon which they lie 
should be consecrated as a national altar, for it has been saturated with the 
blood of heroes. The State should erect a monument on that battle-field. The 
necessity of enforcing principles of patriotism among our youth needs no 
vindication — and by what livlier emblem can they be taught than by planting 
upon our battle-fields the ever-living marble inscription, with the names of the 
valiant men who generously left their lives there? Teach the young men, from 
the examples of Daviess and Spencer and Warwick and White, and those who 
fell with them, to be ready, when the emergency arises, to die for their 
country. 

Happy the youth who 'sinks to rest 
With all his country's honors blest. 



(7) 



8 



Report of Commission. 



A few men generally go forward and accomplish public en- 
terprises. In the decade from 1830 to 1840 Gen. William Henry 
Harrison, Gen. John Tipton (then United States Senator from 
Indiana), and Governor Noah Noble of Indiana, were active in 
promoting plans for a monument at Tippecanoe. This period in 
our history was only a quarter of a century from the battle. Most 
of the participants were yet living. Resolutions were passed by 
the Indiana legislature instructing the Governor to procure a suit- 
able design for a monument, and the faith of the State was pledged 
to erect it. However, the fates seemed to be against this measure 
at that time, for Governor Noah Noble went out of office in 1837, 
in feeble health, and died in 1844. General Harrison became en- 
grossed in a presidential campaign and then died in 1841, shortly 
after taking his office. Gen. John Tipton died in 1839. With the 
death of these three men the monument project seems to have 
been forgotten for over seventy years, except brief mention of it in 
the Constitutional Convention of 1850-51, and now and then some 
patriotic man championing the idea in Congress or the State legis- 
lature, or in the public press. However, nothing came of these 
efforts, and the project was forgotten and given up, until chance, 
as it seemed, revived the idea, and an organization was formed, 
which proved to be the active force in carrying forward the project 
to completion. 

On Sunday, May 1, 1892, the different Grand Army posts of 
Lafayette, Indiana, were invited to the village of Battle Ground 
to attend a meeting of the local post there. Those in attendance 
were as follows : 

Post 3, G. A. R. : Job S. Sims, A. S. McCormick, J. D. Wal- 
lace, E. G. Black, J. B. Shaw, A. B. Klepinger, G. W. Moore, D. 
C. Rankin, Joseph Kenwell, Samuel Parish, W. H. Young, and 
William P. Youkey. 

Post 462, G. A. R. : Rollin Young, Absalom Riley, Allen 
Riley, George S. Gott, John Cassidy, D. G. Smith, Robert Mc- 
Conahay, Dr. William Dunbar, E. J. Kendall, Thomas Thorn, W. 
Cobb, John Henderson, and Thomas Owens. 

Post 475, G. A. R. : A. S. Young, G. D. Chenoweth, Thomas 
Bryant, Thomas Pierce, Solomon Penrod. 

This meeting of the Grand Army posts was turned into a camp- 
fire, and there were a number of patriotic speeches delivered. One 
of the speakers said: "We ought to get up a memorial society to 
take care of those graves there on the battle-field." Job S. Sims 
was the last speaker, and he suggested that there ought to be 
formed an association not only to take care of the graves on the 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



9 



battle-field, but to decorate the graves, and to take up the project 
of a monument in memory of the dead. Pursuant to that sugges- 
tion, a metting was held at the office of James B. Shaw, in the city 
of Lafayette, Saturday, May 7, 1892, at 2 o'clock, and the Tip- 
pecanoe Battle-field Monument Association was formed, with the 
following officers: 

Job S. Sims, President. 
J. W. Henderson, First Vice-President. 
Thomas Pierce, Second Vice-President. 
J. B. Shaw, Secretary. 

George D. Chenoweth, Assistant Secretary. 
W. P. Youkey, Treasurer. 

These officers were re-elected each year for sixteen years, except 
in 1894, when Capt. J. B. Shaw was elected President, Job S. Sims 
being in California. Captain Shaw served as Secretary until 1904, 
when Alva O. Reser became Secretary and remained such until the 
Association had completed its work by having an appropriation 
made by Congress and by the State legislature of Indiana. Then 
the matter was taken up by the Tippecanoe Monument Commis- 
sion, appointed by the Secretary of War, by the Governor, and by 
the national act. 

Each year public exercises have been held at the battle-field, 
patriotic addresses delivered and patriotic songs sungs. Those who 
assisted in the singing at these several yearly meetings were Lizzie 
Cissel, Ada Rush, Edna Sparks, G. E. Steen, Angie Stair, John 
R. Mahin, Fletcher Downs, Rossetta Smith, W. F. Smith, A. W. 
Smith, B. W. Bryan, Zula Cowgill, Lillie Downs, Alta Wells, W. 
W. Mershon, Martha Westfall, Ethel Streeter, Frank E. Ridgway, 
Cecil Ridgway, John S. Moore, Mabel Moore, James McLean, Jes- 
sie McLean, Eliza Hart, Mattie Cowger, F. L. Cowger, Eva Klep- 
inger, Mattie Murphy, Jessie Francis, Nellie Francis, June Wallis, 
Royal Hart, Ortie Hart, Earl Clark, Blanch Clark, Ora Downing, 
L. E. Cowgill, Ada Carleton, Gertrude Thomas, William Jackman, 
John Connelly, Alice Jones, Nannie Hodgin, Essie Beeker, Asa 
Waples, Pearl Hamilton, Cora Black and Mrs. Percy Moore. 

The first public exercises were held Sunday morning, June 26, 
1892. Addresses were made by Capt. A. A. Rice, the Hon. Wil- 
liam S. Haggard, the Rev. George S. Stansbury, and Capt. J. B. 
Shaw. In the afternoon of the same day Gen. M. D. Manson de- 
livered an address and remarks were made by S. Vater, Capt. J. B. 
Shaw and M. E. Clodfelter. General Manson was in feeble health 
and spoke only a few minutes. 



10 



Report of Commission. 




CAPTAIN JAMES B. SHAW, 

SECRETARY. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 




E. G. BLACK, 

TREASURER. 



Report of Commission. 




GENERAL M. D. MAN SON. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



13 



The Hon. M. E. Clodfelter, of Crawfordsville, with reference 
to this visit of General Manson's to the Tippecanoe Battle-field, 
says: 

A few days prior to Sunday, June 26, 1892, I met General Manson, and 
talked with him concerning the meeting to be held at the battle-field on that 
date. He discussed the project of erecting a monument on those grounds, and 
was enthusiastic in its support. He said it was his intention to be at the meet- 
ing, and that he would, if his health permitted, deliver a brief address. He 
stated that he regarded the meeting as a very important one in the history of 
the State, and he expressed the hope that it would be largely attended. I 
promised the General that I would so arrange my affairs as to be present. 
I did so. The General was at that time in feeble health, having been attacked 
with a slight stroke of paralysis, which, to some extent, aifected his speech. 
The meeting was well attended, especially by the old soldiers. When called 
upon, the General, apparently, forgot his infirmities, and delivered an earnest, 
enthusiastic address, manifesting much of his accustomed vigor. In his pre- 
liminary remarks, he complimented the public spirit of the citizens of Lafayette 
and Tippecanoe County in pushing forward so noble a project, which the 
State should have inaugurated and completed years before. He said he felt 
that he stood on holy ground, and it looked like a long time that this country 
had neglected its mighty dead, and he was glad that it had entered into the 
hearts of some to tardily set on foot this movement to honor the memory of the 
heroes of Tippecanoe. After his preliminary remarks, he grew somewhat 
eloquent; spoke of the hazardous undertaking of Harrison's command; of the 
treacherous character of the foe he had to meet; of the many difficulties 
encountered in making forced marches through the wild tanglewood of the 
dense forests, with the thought of an ambush at any moment. This required 
men of determination and courage. Then the speaker turned for a moment 
to the actual battle, and gave a vivid description of the suddenness of the 
attack made by the Indians upon Harrison's army; that, while the attack 
was a surprise, there were no cowards found in the ranks of the surprised 
soldiers. Every officer and every soldier was at his post. The battle raged 
with great fury. The General here gave a vivid picture of the battle, naming 
many of the officers in charge, and their positions, commending the heroic 
bravery exhibited, under the most trying circumstances. He said that the 
tendency was to minimize the affair as but a skirmish, when in truth and in 
fact, it was one of the great battles of history, both in its severity and the 
results accomplished by the victory; that, in proportion to the number of men 
engaged, it was one of the bloody battles of our early history; that thirty- 
seven as brave American soldiers were killed, and one hundred and fifty more 
wounded, as ever took part in any battle in any country. The General made 
an appeal for the cause in substantially these words: 

"Ladies and Gentlemen: These are holy grounds, consecrated by the blood 
of some of America's bravest sons. They suffered and died in defense of their 
country's cause. The peace and safety of the government demanded their 
services and their sacrifice, and they willingly responded, placing love of country 
above the love of even life itself. Such devotion to country, such self-sacrifice, 
such fearless courage, and such beneficent results as were sought and secured 



[2—19592] 



14 



Report of Commission. 



by this great frontier battle, demands more than a passing recognition. While 
it is true that these brave officers and men have erected a monument in the 
hearts of their countrymen more enduring than brass or marble, yet there 
should be a visible monument in commemoration of the place and in honor of 
the brave officers and men who won this substantial victory in behalf of civil 
government in the early history of our State. Such a monument would lend 
an inspiration to the young men of our State and nation throughout genera- 
tions yet to come." 

This was probably the last important speech General Manson 
ever attempted to make. It is greatly to be regretted that a steno- 
graphic report of this speech was not made and preserved. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 




CAPTAIN A. A. RICE. 



16 Report of Commission. 



ADDRESSES BEFORE ASSOCIATION. 



Addresses were made from year to year before this association, 
as f ollows : 

Sunday, June 24, 1894, Capt. A. A. Rice, W. V. Stoy and B. 
F. Magee. 

Wednesday, June 19, 1895, the Hon. J. Frank Hanly and 
James L. Glasscock. 

Thursday, June 25, 1896, Gen. R. P. DeHart and the Hon. 
George D. Parks. 

Sunday, June 20, 1897, Gen. Lew Wallace and the Hon. 
Win R. Wood. 

Sunday, June 19, 1898, the Rev. C. B. Wilcox and Gen. R. 
P. DeHart. 

Sunday, June 18, 1899, Gen. R. P. DeHart. 

Sunday, June 17, 1900, the Hon. Edgar D. Randolph and 
the Hon. Alva O. Reser. 

Sunday, June 16, 1901, the Hon. E. D. Crumpacker and 
Gen. R. P. DeHart. 

Sunday, June 15, 1902, the Hon. Henry W. Watterson. 

Sunday, June 21, 1903, Gen. John C. Black. 

Sunday, June 19, 1904, the Hon. Alva O. Reser. 

Sunday, June 18, 1905, Gen. R. P. DeHart and the Hon. 
Alva O. Reser. 

Sunday, June 17, 1906, George W. Switzer. 

Such of the above addresses as it has been possible to obtain are 
given in this compilation, as they contain much valuable historical 
information which, in the opinion of the Commission, should be 
preserved. 

It became the consensus of opinion among the members of the 
monument association that the Battle of Tippecanoe, being of a 
national character in its results, that the State and the Nation 
should equally share in the erection of a monument. A committee 
waited upon the Hon. Edgar D. Crumpacker, representing the 
Tenth Congressional District in Congress, and he pledged to the 
association that he would use his best endeavors to carry forward 
the project, which he did with admirable industry and signal abil- 
ity, aided by the other congressmen from the State of Indiana, and 
by Senators Beveridge and Hemenway, representing Indiana in 
the United States Senate. The bill was signed by President Theo- 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



17 



dore Roosevelt, the President giving the pen with which he signed 
the bill to Mr. Crumpacker, who presented it to the Secretary of 
the Tippecanoe Monument Association. Senator Will R. Wood, 
an experienced legislator, and representing Tippecanoe County in 
the State Senate, agreed to push the matter through the legisla- 
ture. He introduced a bill in the State Senate, which passed that 
body without a dissenting vote, showing that Senator Wood car- 
ried out his trust with conspicuous ability and absolute fidelity. 
Senator Wood's efforts in the State Senate were supplemented in 
the House by the Hon. Thomas N. Andrew and the Hon. J. F. 
Simison, representing Tippecanoe County in the House of Repre- 
sentatives of the Indiana Legislature, which it passed with only a 
few votes against it. When the bill had passed the legislature it 
was promptly signed by Governor J. Frank Hanly. The national 
act carried with it an appropriation of $12,500, and the State act 
an appropriation of $12,500, making a total appropriation of 
$25,000. 



18 



Report of Commission. 



HISTORY OF THE TIPPECANOE MONUMENT BILL IN 

CONGRESS. 



S. 8012. To erect a monument on the Tippecanoe battle- 
ground in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, was introduced in the 59th 
Congress, 2d session, by Mr. Beveridge. Introduced in the Senate 
Jan. 22, 1907, referred to the Committee on the Library. Re- 
ported back, without amendment, and report thereon submitted 
(S. report No. 6474) Feb. 8, 1907. Debated and passed the Sen- 
ate, Feb. 11, 1907. Referred to the House Committee on the 
Library, Feb. 11, 1907. Committee discharged, bill debated and 
passed the House, March 3, 1907. Signed by the Speaker and 
Vice-President, March 4, 1907. Approved and signed by Presi- 
dent, March 4, 1907. 

AN ACT to erect a momiment on the Tippecanoe battle-ground in Tippecanoe 

County, Indiana. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of twelve thousand 
five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appro- 
priated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be 
expended with the sum hereinafter named, under the direction of the Secretary 
of War, in procuring and erecting a monument upon Tippecanoe battle-ground 
in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, in honor of Gen. William Henry Harrison and 
the soldiers who composed the American army in the battle of Tippecanoe on 
the seventh' day of November, eighteen hundred and eleven: Provided, That 
this appropriation is made upon the condition that the State of Indiana shall 
provide a like sum, to be expended for said purpose under the direction of the 
Secretary of War, in connection with the sum herein appropriated; and no 
part of the sum herein appropriated shall be available until said sum to be 
provided by the State of Indiana shall have been placed at the disposal of the 
Secretary of War. 

Sec. 2. That the Secretary of War shall appoint one person who, with the 
governor of the State of Indiana and the president of the Tippecanoe Battle- 
ground Memorial Association, a voluntary association in Tippecanoe County, 
Indiana, shall constitute a commission, whose duty it shall be to select a suitable 
design for said monument, with such emblems and inscriptions as will properly 
commemorate the valor and sacrifices of the American army at the battle of 
Tippecanoe, subject to the approval of the Secretary of War. 

Sec 3. That it shall be the duty of said commission to select a site for 
said monument, which shall be on the battle-ground, to superintend the erection 
thereof, and to make all necessary and proper arrangements for the unveiling 
and dedication of the same when it shall have been completed. Said commis- 
sioners shall serve without compensation, and the State of Indiana shall make 
due provision for the protection and presrvation of said monument without 
expense to the government of the United States. 

Approved, March 4, 1907, 11 a. m. 



4 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



19 



HISTORY OF THE TIPPECANOE MONUMENT BILL IN 
THE INDIANA LEGISLATURE. 



Friday, January 11, 1907, Senator Will R. Wood, of Tippe- 
canoe County, introduced Senate Bill No. 45, providing for the 
erection of a monument on the Tippecanoe battle-field. The bill 
was read the first time by title, and referred to the Committee on 
Finance. 

Wednesday, January 16, 1907, bill was reported favorably by 
Finance Committee of the Senate. 

Friday, January 18, 1907, read second time by title and or- 
dered engrossed. 

Wednesday, January 23, 1907, bill passed the Senate, unani- 
mously. 

Thursday, February 21, 1907, bill passed the House. 
February 23, 1907, bill signed by the Speaker. 
February 23, 1907, bill signed by President of the Senate. 
February 26, 1907, bill signed by the Governor. 

The following is the bill above named, as enacted into law: 

AN ACT providing for the erection of a monument upon the Tippecanoe 
battle-field in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and providing for an appro- 
priation for the same, and declaring an emergency. 

Whereas, It has been more than ninety-five years since the battle of Tippe- 
canoe was fought; and 

Whereas, Up to this time no monument has been erected to commemorate the 
neroism of thoSe engaged on behalf of the United States in said battle, or 
to commemorate the importance of the successful termination of said 
battle in the settlement of the great northwest; and 

Whereas, A bill asking for the appropriation of twelve thousand five hundred 
dollars for the erection of such a monument in the event a like sum is 
appropriated by the State of Indiana, has been favorably acted upon and 
reported by the lower house of the United States Congress; therefore, 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, 
That there be hereby appropriated out of any funds in the State treasury not 
otherwise appropriated, the sum of twelve thousand five hundred dollars for 
the purpose of aiding in the purchase and erection of a monument upon the 
Tippecanoe battle-field, in Tippecanoe County, Indiana: Provided, however, 
That said sum shall not be paid until a like sum is appropriated by the United 
States government for the same purpose. 



20 



Report of Commission. 



Sec. 2. Three trustees shall be appointed by the governor, whost, duty it 
shall be to carry out the provisions of this act, and said trustees shall serve 
without compensation. 

Sec. 3. Said trustees shall keep an accurate account of all disbursements 
and make a full report thereof and of the execution of their trust to the 
governor. 

Sec. 4. There being an emergency for this act, the same shall be in full 
force and effect from and after its passage. 



MEETING OE COMMISSION. 



On January 6, 1908. Governor P. Erank Hanly, Job S. Sims, 
A. A. Jones and Wesley E. Wells, members of the Tippecanoe 
Momriient Commission, met and organized as follows: 

President, Governor J. Frank Hanly. 

Treasurer, Job S. Sims. 

Secretary, A. A. Jones. 

On February T 12, 1908, contract for erection of monument was 
let to McDonnell & Sons, Buffalo, New York, for the sum of $24,- 
500. A detailed statement of expenditures will be found at the 
end of this volume. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



21 



'rogram of Exercises. 



The following is the program of the dedicatory exercises held 
on the battle-field, Saturday, November 7, 1908, which is followed 
by the detailed report : 



MORNING EXERCISES, 10 A. M. 
A. O. Reser, Chairman. 

Music Lafayette Band 

Opening Address Hon. E. D. Crumpacker 

Music Burrough's Band 

Address Hon. Will R. Wood 

Song — "On the Banks of the Wabash," Master Sherman Smith 

Music Soldiers' Home Band 

Address Colonel R. P. DeHart 

Music Lafayette Band 



UNVEILING EXERCISES AT 1 P. M. 

Music Tenth U. S. Regular Band 

Song — "America" Battle Ground Choir 

Invocation Rev. A. L. Miller, of Battle Ground 

Song — "Star Spangled Banner" Choir 

Address by Job S. Sims, 

Presenting the Monument to the Government and State 
Unveiling, by Miss June Etta Wallis, Battle Ground 

Music — "Hail Columbia" Lafayette Band 

Acceptance by Governor J. Frank Hanly 

Song — "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" Mrs. Edgar Taylor 

Address by Secretary of War, Receiving the Monument 

Song — "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" Choir 

Salute the dead, by the 10th Regiment U. S. Regulars 

Music — "Hail Columbia" Band 



22 



Report of Commission. 



Morning Exercises. 



Tippecanoe Battee-field, November 7, 1908, 

10 o'clock. 

Chairman Reseu: Sallust, the Roman historian, more than 
nineteen hundred years ago, wrote "Republics are ungrateful." 
On down through the ages and centuries, those old historians al- 
most invariably wrote "Republics are ungrateful." But if those 
old historians had seen the pension rolls of this government, $150,- 
000,000 a year ; if they had seen the soldiers' homes of this coun- 
try — both National and State ; if they had seen the American 
people on Memorial Day in 10,000 cemeteries garlanding the 
graves of the heroic dead ; if they had seen the Nation and the 
State erecting this beautiful monument, they would not have writ- 
ten "Republics are ungrateful." 

In Europe they erect monuments to individuals — to their gen- 
erals. In America we erect monuments to the soldiery. The Bun- 
ker Hill monument was erected in memory of Revolutionary heroes. 
The magnificent monument at Indianapolis was erected in mem- 
ory of the soldiers and sailors of Indiana. And the Nation and 
State by the erection of this monument are showing to the world 
that those who braved the dangers of bloody and cruel Indian war- 
fare are not forgotten by their country. 

The Battle of Tippecanoe was a battle of national importance. 
It was really the first shot in the War of 1812. It early became 
the consensus of opinion of the Tippecanoe Monument Association 
that this, being a battle of national importance in its results, that 
the Nation should join with the State in the erection of a monu- 
ment. This idea met the approval of our representative in Con- 
gress. He managed a bill through Congress, carrying with it an 
appropriation of $12,500. In getting this matter through, he 
encountered many obstacles. He overcame them all. I do not be- 
lieve that a man of less conspicuous ability, of less energy, or of 
less commanding influence, could have carried this project through 
successfully. It therefore gives me pleasure to introduce to you 
our splendid representative in Congress, the Hon. E. D. Crum- 
packer, who will now address you. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



23 



ADDRESS OF THE HON. E. D. CRUMPACKER. 



I first desire to congratulate the Tippecanoe Battle Ground Me- 
morial Association of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, for the cul- 
mination of this project — the erection of a suitable monument, as 
a tribute of gratitude to those who fought and to those who died 
upon this sacred soil. 

To this association, I think, more than to any other particu- 
lar organization in the country, is due the construction of this 
splendid shaft of granite today. The Battle of Tippecanoe, fought 
upon this ground ninety-seven years and a few hours ago, was a 
conflict of national significance. It was more than a milepost in 
the conflict between civilization and savagery, because it had a 
vital bearing upon the Second War of Independence with the 
mother country — the War of 1812. There is no doubt it was in 
the minds of the leaders in both England and the United States 
some time before the conflict occurred here that another war was 
inevitable ; that the patriotic and self-respecting spirit of Ameri- 
can manhood, of necessity, would revolt against the humiliating 
treatment accorded to this country by Great Britain. The savages 
along the western frontier were being organized into a general 
confederation with a view of becoming the allies of Great Britain 
in the coming conflict ; and the great Tecumseh, I think perhaps 
the most intelligent, the most broad-minded, in many respects the 
greatest Indian we know of in history, was designated to travel 
about throughout the land and organize all the Indian tribes into 
one great confederation, to resist the encroachment of the Ameri- 
cans upon what he termed to be their native soil. The policy of 
the great chief Tecumseh was that the land of North America, 
of natural right, belonged to all the Indian tribes ; that they held 
it as owners or tenants in common ; that no single tribe had the 
power to cede or grant any of this territory to the white ; that 
if a tribe occupying a particular section of the common country 
saw fit to yield its possession to someone else, the right then be- 
longed to other Indians to enter upon and occupy it. That prin- 
ciple of common rights was the basic principle of Tecumseh's Con- 
federation ; and it was his purpose in the course of the month be- 
fore this battle was fought, to organize the Indian tribes from the 
lakes to the gulf in a solid compact. They would then have been 




HON. EDGAR D. CRUMP ACKER. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 25 

ready to co-operate with the troops of Great Britain toward re- 
sisting the encroachments of the Americans ; and no man can tell 
what would have been the result if that confederation had suc- 
ceeded, and it would have succeeded in effecting a most dangerous 
organization, had it not been for the Battle of Tippecanoe, because 
its center was at the Prophet's village within a mile or so of this 
point. 

General Harrison, the governor then of Indiana Territory, fore- 
saw what might be in store for the Americans along the frontier, 
and wisely came here to demand assurance of peace. The result 
was the Battle of Tippecanoe, and the absolute destruction of the 
Indian forces, and the utter overthrow of Tecumseh, and the de- 
struction of all his efforts to bring about a confederation of the 
Indian tribes. 

Therefore, my fellow-citizens, the contest which was fought 
here was one of national importance, and it is altogether appro- 
priate that the federal government should recognize its importance 
in contributing from the public revenues toward the erection of a 
monument to the men who fought and died upon this ground. 
These brave pioneers suffered many privations and hardships that 
are unknown to this generation. Intellectual, religious and social 
progress always meets with stubborn resistance. It seems to me 
that all the good things of life come through sacrifice and toil and 
tribulation. Nothing in life seems to be worth anything unless it 
costs something to obtain it. There had to be the agony of Geth- 
semane, before there could be the glory of a resurrection. It was 
necessary that there should be a Valley Forge, with all its horrors 
and sufferings, before there could be a Yorktown. There was a 
Bull Run before an Appomattox. In the progress of human na- 
ture it is necessary to meet and overcome fixed customs and habits, 
to root out ignorance and superstition ; and these great conflicts 
which mark the pathway of civilized man toward a higher and 
better life, are marked with conflicts and sacrifices all along the line. 

In reading the history of civilization, one is apt to be led to 
the belief that war, bloodshed, fire and smoke, has been the chief oc- 
cupation of mankind in the centuries that have passed. If the men 
who struggled upon this field were able to look from their abode 
in the other world down upon this splendid empire today, upon 
this gathering of people prompted to come here by hearts filled 
with gratitude — it would seem to me if they would be prompted 
by emotions there as human nature here, their eyes must indubitably 
swell with tears. This monument does not pay the debt of gratitude 



26 



Report of Commission. 



the American people owe these men. In no sense does it do that. It 
is not so designed. It is simply a reminder of the obligation we 
are under to the men who struggled on this field, and to the great 
army of pioneer men and women who came to the frontier and es- 
tablished conditions that make life so happy and prosperous for you 
and me. The best tribute the people of the United States can pay 
to the memories of our forefathers who struggled and sacrificed for 
our welfare is to perfect the work they so well began, to so direct 
the great forces of our complex civilization as to lead mankind to 
a higher and nobler life, to establish the principles of justice and 
political and social brotherhood throughout the length and breadth 
of this great country of ours. Our laws and our policies ought to 
reflect, in an increasing degree, the very highest conceptions of 
justice, liberty and truth. It is your duty and mine, my fellow- 
citizens, to take advantage of every opportunity, to employ our 
best efforts, to improve conditions, political, industrial, commer- 
cial and social. It is your duty, and mine, to assist in establishing 
conditions so that every man, however high and important he may 
be, will look upon every other citizen — the lowly and the humble 
as well as the great — as his equal. It is your duty, and mine, to 
assist in the establishment of conditions that will give every man in 
our broad land an equal chance with every other man to make the 
most he possibly can of the powers which the Lord has committed 
to him. These great principles of liberty, justice and equality, 
should be forever cherished in the hearts of the American people. 
Let there be no departure from them in their original purity, but 
let us in this day and age expand and amplify and apply them to 
all conditions of life and society, so that these great principles 
shall become living realities as well as political theories. This great 
government that we enjoy contains within its organization, powers 
that are capable of controlling the destiny of all the civilized world. 
Its attitude among the nations of the earth should be that of moral, 
intellectual and political leadership. We talk about commercial 
supremacy and industrial leadership ! The supremacy, my fellow- 
citizens, that will glorify American manhood and the great Repub- 
lic, will be supremacy in the principles of justice and liberty and 
universal brotherhood. It is talked occasionally about there being 
an ultimate conflict between the Saxon and the Slav for world- 
wide supremacy. There will be no conflict, in my judgment, in 
the course of years — no final conflict — except in the principles of 
love and justice, the great principles that are calculated to uplift 
and bless mankind, which in the course of years, as education and 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 27 

the spirit of freedom become universal in our country, will be the 
property of all mankind, and the only strife will be as to what peo- 
ple shall best serve the world — what people can best show the high- 
est and noblest and purest manhood and womanhood. 

I want to congratulate you again upon the completion of this 
splendid granite shaft. Let it be a reminder to us of the sacrifices 
that have been made for our good. Let it be a constant inspiration 
for us to try to do more and more, with the coming years, for the 
benefit of society, for the improvement of our great government. 
Let us bear in mind always that man does not live unto himself 
alone; that while he is enjoined to make due provision for himself 
and those dependent on him (for his own household), that he must 
always bear in mind that he has no right to overlook the interests 
of his neighbor ; that he has no right to do an unjust act. Let the 
principle of justice and humanity prompt all our actions and all 
our thoughts, until we shall have arrived at such a stage of per- 
fection that dishonesty and injustice will no longer be known. That 
period, I concede, is a long, long ways in the future, but let that be 
our individual and our collective ideal. The American people are 
blessed beyond, I think, that which most of us appreciate — blessed 
with opportunities to live a better and higher and more useful life; 
blessed with privileges to make the most we can of ourselves ; 
blessed with opportunities to improve society, to elevate the stand- 
ard of worth and moral reform throughout all the civilized world. 
Let us take inspiration again, I repeat, from these noble ancestors 
of ours, who yielded upon this field the last full measure of their 
devotion to the cause of civilization. Let us be prompted by their 
splendid service to do more every year for ourselves and society. 
I thank you. 

Chairman Reser : The Battle of Tippecanoe was the last im- 
portant engagement with the Indians east of the Mississippi River. 
The decade from 1830 to 1840 was a period of great activity along 
the line of getting a monument for this historic spot. It was a time 
close to the event. Most of the participants in this battle were yet 
living. Several resolutions were introduced into the State legisla- 
ture, and some of them adopted, pledging the faith of the State 
to erect a monument here. The Governor was instructed by a reso- 
lution of the legislature to select a suitable design for a monument. 
A few men generally carry forward public enterprises. Three men 
were principally responsible for the activity in that decade along 
this line. These men were Gen. William Henry Harrison, Gen. 



28 



Report of Commission. 



John Tipton, and Governor Noah Noble. Each of these men died 
before the project was carried out, and then the question of the 
erection of a monument here slept for over seventy years, until the 
Senator from Tippecanoe County introduced a bill in the State 
Senate of Indiana, carrying with it an appropriation of $12,500 
for this purpose. So prudently did he manage that measure, and 
so eloquently did he advocate it, that the bill passed the State Sen- 
ate unanimously, and passed the House practically with few against 
it. As I have said to the Senator, no act in his long legislative 
career will so redound to his credit, and so long live in the hearts 
of the people as the carrying out of this project. Senator Wood 
does not need an introduction from me. He will now address you. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



ADDRESS OF SENATOR WILL R. WOOD. 



It is not my purpose in the brief speech that I shall make to 
enter into any historical matter connected with the Battle of Tip- 
pecanoe. There are those here who are better qualified to do that 
thing. We have with us this day, from our neighboring State of 
Kentucky, a man who has made a study of the Battle of Tippe- 
canoe from a historical point of view and who has committed his 
observations and his studies to written history. You will be pleased 
I know to hear from him. 

It has been the custom of all men in all ages, barbarians as well 
as cilivized men, to raise monuments for the purpose of commemo- 
rating mighty events that have transpired and for the purpose of 
perpetuating in memory the .heroic -deeds of men. It is fitting, 
therefore, that the people of this great State and this great Nation 
should erect this beautiful monument to perpetuate all that it 
stands for. 

The monument erected at Bunker Hill is not so much to per- 
petuate the memory of the brave men who fell there in the first 
fight that was made for liberty on this side of the sea, but it is for the 
purpose of telling the generations yet to come what has been done 
for them. It is for the purpose of showing that those who are reap- 
ing the benefits achieved and made possible by that battle are not 
ungrateful for the gifts they have received. The monument that 
was erected in Washington is not for the purpose of perpetuating 
the name of General Washington, nor the names of the heroes who 
fell on the fields of battle in the Revolutionary War. They need 
no such pile of stone as that. But it is for the purpose of showing 
to the future that the mighty deeds and mighty accomplishments 
of those men mean much for all time to come. The monument, 
the like of which was never erected to the memory of private sol- 
diers, located at the capital of our own State, need not have been 
built solely for the purpose of perpetuating the names and the 
memories of the soldiers who fell upon the battle-fields of the Civil 
War, for their memories are inscribed upon tablets more lasting 
than stone, more enduring than bronze, in the hearts of a grateful 
people; but it was for the purpose of showing to the ages that 
patriotism has its reward and that it is evidenced in these monu- 
ments. 



[3—19592] 



Report of Commission. 




HON. WILL R. WOOD. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



31 



This monument we have erected here is not alone for the pur- 
pose of honoring the men who fell upon this sacred spot, but it is 
likewise for the purpose of showing that we in this day and age 
are not unmindful, though long has been the procrastination, of 
what was done here for us and for future generations. As Mr. 
Crumpacker has said, this was a national event. It was not for 
the people here that this battle was fought, for there were no white 
people here. It was not for the people south of us, for they were 
not endangered. It was not for the people to the east of us, for 
they were secure. But it was for the purpose of opening a gate- 
way to the great northwest, and for the purpose of crushing out 
the border warfare that stood in the way of the march of progress. 
So effectually were these things done that this battle was the last 
Indian battle fought and that was found necessary to be fought 
in the mighty march of progress that has since been made through 
this gateway. As a direct result of this battle more than one-third 
of the present United States territory was opened to civilization. 

We erect this monument and by its erection we further cement 
a friendship long existing between this State and our neighbor, 
Kentucky. And I am proud today to know that this sister State 
of ours, that furnished so many of the men who fell upon this field, 
has sent a representative here in honor of this event. I am proud, 
too, that we have with us on this momentous occasion a great-grand- 
son of Gen. William Henry Harrison. 

We were prompted in erecting this monument by the gratitude 
of our hearts. We were prompted by the duty that we owe to the 
past. We have builded it so that the generations yet to come, who 
may know but little of the history of the mighty past, when they 
look upon this pile will be made to inquire, what does it all mean, 
and then they will find answer in the history of their country. 

There was a monument here ninety-seven years ago. It was 
these giant oaks, that stood here then and throughout all these 
years in ceaseless vigil. In the summer time their leaves have 
shaded this sacred spot. In the fall they have shed those leaves to 
spread a covering over these last resting places. And throughout 
the years that are to come, they will stand erect, with the scars 
of battle upon them, mighty watchers of the day, mighty sentinels 
of the night, to protect these graves then as throughout the past. 

Generations yet to be will come here and remember and revere 
the memory of the heroes who made it possible for us this day to 
meet and acknowledge and proclaim our gratitude. 



32 



Report of Commission. 



There will be but little occasion to build memorial tablets or 
erect monuments in commemoration of heroes or herioc deeds of 
battles fought in the future. The monuments then erected will be 
to mark the mighty progress of a country's peace, and the great 
spiritual, intellectual and material achievements attained. But all 
these will but sharpen the interest in heroic monuments like this and 
will reflect credit upon the hands and hearts that builded them. 

I thank you. 

Chairman Reser : I have been closely associated with our next 
speaker for a number of years. Whatever interest I have taken 
in this project has been largely due to him. No one could be 
around him very much and not become imbued with his enthusiasm 
to have a monument erected on this battle-field. In the face of dis- 
couragements he was always serenely confident and optimistic for 
this cause. There was never a letter or telegram sent to Washing- 
ton or to Indianapolis that he did not either write or approve. I 
do not need to introduce him, either, but will simply announce that 
Gen. R. P. DeHart will now address you. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



3S 



ADDRESS OF GEN. R. P. DeHART. 



On the 7th day of November, 1811, was fought the Battle of 
Tippecanoe upon this beautiful plateau of ground. On the even- 
ing of the 6th of November, General Harrison with his army of 
about 900 effective men, reached a point near the Prophet's vil- 
lage. At that time the Prophet sent runners out to him, saying, 
"Why do you come here with your army? We have none here but 
women and children. Go into camp and we will treat with you on 
the morrow." 

Now, some people have been so unkind as to condemn the 
Prophet for his deceiving, or attempt to deceive, Harrison and his 
army ; but today among civilized men the politician will say to you 
things that he does not mean. He will tell you what he proposes 
to do, and he will not do it on the morrow. Let us be just in these 
things. 

The Indian believed he was fighting for his home and the graves 
of his fathers, and he sought to deceive Harrison, as a part of the 
strategy of Indian warfare. "Where is the best camp ground?" 
said one of the scouts, and the Indian said, "To the north and west 
a little over a mile." If you will look yonder a mile and a quarter, 
you can see the site of the Indian village where Tecumseh and his 
brother held their place, and that was the seat of Indian diplomacy 
and strategy for many years. Now, some people have said that 
Tecumseh was defeated at this battle. He was not in this fight. 
He had made a speech at the City of Vincennes, in answer to one 
made by General Harrison, who had maintained the treaty between 
the Indians and the pale-faces, and in response to that Tecumseh 
had said to him, "If you will acknowledge the title of the land upon 
the Wabash to be in my people, I will be your friend. I will be 
your brother. I will die for you. I will fight for you to the end; 
but of you don't, then look out !" Harrison maintained the treaty. 
Tecumseh went to the southland, following the plan of the League 
of the great Pontiac, and while he was gone, Harrison with his 
army came to this locality. They went into camp on the evening of 
the 6th of November, 1811. Their campfires were built all over 
these grounds, and there is no doubt but the Indians stood upon 
yonder ridge and counted each fire and knew the location of every 
line of the army. The Indians were close observers and we might 
learn many things from them. 




GENERAL RICHARD P. DeHART. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



35 



The story is told of an old Indian coming along and he said to 
some white men, "Did you see a little old white man with a short 
gun, and a short piece of venison, and a stump-tailed dog, pass 
this way?" They said, "Yes." He replied, "He stole my venison." 
"Why didn't you stop him?" said the white men. The Indian said, 
"I wasn't there." "Then how could you tell these things so cor- 
rectly?" "Why," he said, "I knew he was a small short man, be- 
cause he had to stand upon a log to reach the venison, from the 
height it was hung from the ground ; and I knew he had a short 
gun, because I could see where the breech stood on the ground, and 
how far up the tree the muzzle extended; and I knew he had a 
stump-tailed dog, because the dog sat watching his master cut 
down the venison, and his short tail made a hole in the sand." 
(Laughter.) 

The Indian observed all these things. He knew the force Har- 
rison had ; and while we have no means of ascertaining the exact 
number of the Indians, yet we know they knew the number of Har- 
rison's army, and they never would have made the assault upon that 
army without having an equal or a greater number. Harrison did 
not really anticipate an Indian fight on the morning of the 7th 
of November. There were but very few of the men under his com- 
mand who thought there would be a battle. In fact, the Kentuck- 
ians, who had come from their mountain homes as did the heather- 
hidden warriors of Clan Alpine to the whistle of their chief, cursed 
and swore because there would be no Indian fight. They hated the 
Indian and believed the best Indian was a dead Indian. 

But Harrison took the precaution to have his men formed and 
lie down in line of battle. At 4 o'clock in the morning a drizzling 
rain had set in. Harrison had arisen and was pulling on his boots 
and was talking to one of his aides, when on the north, as you see 
yonder beyond those houses, the sound of a musket was heard. All 
stood up in line of battle, and those brave men touched one an- 
other's shoulders as they had agreed beforehand, in the event of 
an Indian attack, and said, "Don't flinch ! Don't flinch !" And 
they never did flinch, and never gave up until the victory was won 
upon this field upon that bloody morning of the 7th of November. 
At that point yonder (to the north and west) the first assault was 
made upon Harrison's line, and there the brave Owen fell; there 
the brave Baen fell; there Harrison had a lock cut from his hair 
by an Indian bullet. When the musket was fired the picket did so 
because he saw the grass and weeds moving. He challenged and 



36 



Report of Commission. 



fired his musket. The Indians sprang in the air and they rushed 
and followed the picket within the lines, and two of them were 
killed within twenty feet of Harrison's tent. 

Braver men never lived. Truer men never drew the bow than 
those who fought upon this field upon that morning. The line was 
broken at that point. Reinforcements drove them back; and then 
the storm seemed to burst along the entire south and front. At 
the south end of this line was what were called the Yellow Jackets, 
and in the gloom and dark, their uniform of yellow looked not un- 
like the color of the brave and grand men who have come here to- 
day wearing the uniform of our country. There it was the brave 
Spencer fought. There it was that Warrick fought; and so fierce 
was the conflict at that point, at the southern point of the line, that 
Harrison rode there in haste. A stripling of a boy stepped up, and 
Harrison said to him, "Where is your captain?" "He is dead, sir." 
"'Where is your lieutenant?" "He is dead." "Where is your sec- 
ond-lieutenant?" "He is dead." "Where is your ensign?" "I am 
here." Harrison complimented him and told him to hold the line. 
They have said that the commander of that company was wounded 
in the head and he tied a handkerchief around it and fought on 
until he was shot through both limbs and he fell upon the line, and 
while the Indians rushed with tomahawk and scalping knives to 
break the line, the words of Spencer to his gallant band were : 
"Hold the line ! Hold the line, my men !" And they drove back and 
kept back the savage horde. Oh, I tell you the Roncesvalles Pass, 
when before the opposing lance went down the harnessed chivalry 
of Spain, looked not on a braver or a better band than fought at 
that point. They held the line, and the daylight came. The In- 
dian had drifted to the south end, and from the tree tops and from 
the banks he enfiladed the line. I talked with an old pioneer, home- 
spun soldier who fought upon that front. He said, "The bark was 
flying from the trees. I could see the Indians running from point 
to point with tomahawk and scalping knife, and with bow and ar- 
row, while the air whizzed with flying bullets, because the Indians 
had the best powder and the best arms as well as the bow and ar 
row. The bow and arrow was intended to shoot the pickets with, 
and then they intended to rush forward with scalping knife and 
tomahawk upon the sleeping army. They fought on until the day- 
light came, and at the southern point the Indian took his last 
stand. Harrison had been with Mad Anthony Wayne at the Battle 
of Falling Timbers, and he knew the Indian could stand in line or 
behind a tree as long as he could shoot, but that he could not stand 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 37 

the cold bayonet. Wayne had said to his men at the Falling Tim- 
bers, when the foe was still in the chaparral for two miles: "With- 
draw your charges from your guns. Fix your bayonets, and charge 
through the lines and drive them out." Harrison was there, and 
remembered what Mad Anthony Wayne had said. When the morn- 
ing had come they had held the line against the savage foe from 
4 o'clock until 7 o'clock. Thirty-seven brave men had fallen asleep 
upon this field. Their bones are here today. Then it was that a 
gray-haired captain, whose name I cannot now recall, commanded 
his company to form in platoons, with fixed bayonets, and charged 
the foe. Said this old pioneer to me, "That was the sweetest talk 
I ever heard in my life. We knew then that the command would 
come, and I hugged my tree as closely as I could, and the com- 
mand was given, 'Forward,' and that gallant band moved along 
that front line, and the Indians would fire a volley knocking out 
a man here and there in front, and the command would come, 'Close 
up in the rear !' Above it all as we moved on I could hear the 
voice of the captain, 'Close up, men ! Steady ! Steady ! Close up ! 
Steady ! Steady !' The men wanted to seek the refuge and protec- 
tion of the trees. The rattling of the deer hoofs and the shrieks 
of the Indians were like the shrieks of starved eagles. We went on 
and moved on in a steady line and when we reached the front, the 
Indians broke from the trees and from the bank and rocks and 
fled across the swamp, and a shout went up from the victors upon 
this field." 

Thirty-seven brave men fell dead here, and one hundred and 
fifty-one wounded, averaging about one out of every five killed or 
wounded. One grand soldier who was shot through the body and 
mortally wounded went to the surgeon and the surgeon said to him, 
"Your wound is mortal." He bound himself up, went back to the 
front and was shot through the brain, and fell upon the firing line. 

Such deeds of valor should be expounded in every school in this 
country. Instead of devoting one hundred and fifty pages to 
heathen mythologjr, and scarcely any space to the Battle of Tip- 
pecanoe, the reverse should be true. I believe this will not be so in 
the future. I believe the erection of this monument will awaken 
an interest in the young men of this country. Let me say that 
patriotism is the life blood of the people, and when these boys take 
charge of this government with all her greatness and grandeur and 
glory they will be filled with gratitude and patriotism toward the 
men who made the government, and for each man who defended the 
government. 



38 



Report of Commission. 



Let us cultivate this spirit of patriotism. Let us do this and 
then we shall be able to look upon no land more free, more noble, 
more grand, more glorious than this, our own country. (Ap- 
plause. ) 

Chairman Reser: As Senator Wood has said, we have with 
us today a representative of the State of Kentucky. As is known 
to all of us the Battle of Tippecanoe was fought by regulars, by 
militia from the Territory of Indiana and by militia from Ken- 
tucky. Yonder is a tablet which marks the place where Joe Daviess 
fell. He was one of the leading citizens of Kentucky. He was 
United States District Attorney in that State. He was the leading 
officer in the Masonic fraternity in that State. A county in Ken- 
tucky, a county in Illinois and Daviess County, Indiana, were 
named after this man. Yonder is another tablet which marks the 
place where Col. Abram Owen fell. Col. Isaac White, and others 
from Kentucky, lost their lives in this battle. Our next speaker has 
written a splendid historical work concerning the Battle of Tippe- 
canoe, and it gives me pleasure to introduce to you Capt. Alfred 
Pirtle. of Louisville, Kentucky, who will now address you. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



39 



ADDRESS OF CAPT. ALFRED PIRTLE. 



For three years I wore the blue, and there I learned, first, to 
obey. Yesterday morning at my desk there was a call for a long 
distance talk, and as such things as that are not unusual to us 
business men, I hastened to call up long distance and found it was 
from Governor Wilson at Frankfort, Kentucky, directing me to 
come here today and represent him on this important occasion. I 
said, "Governor, I will go, but what must I do. I cannot fill your 
place." "Yes, you go, and tell the people of Indiana some of the 
history of the Battle of Tippecanoe." I prepared myself and I 
am here with a little condensed statement made up for this purpose, 
and it is as follows : 

By the summer of 1811, the Territory of Indiana was ten years 
old. The Governor of the Territory, William Henry Harrison, 
lived at Vincennes. The leading Indians of the day were Te- 
cumseh and the Prophet. Tecumseh was by far the more intelli- 
gent of the two, and his career showed that he was a born general 
and diplomat. 

The Indians had for many years been using the point on the 
right bank of the Wabash River below the Tippecanoe as a camping 
ground, and here the Prophet made his home, where several hun- 
dred Indians were gathered and lived in comparative ease. Te- 
cumseh had a scheme for uniting all the Indians of the North and 
South in a great confederation, with the power of which he hoped 
to stem the tide of white men seeking to drive the Indians from 
their lands. He used the Prophet to keep up the spirit of war 
among the young men in the valley of the Wabash. The 1st of 
August, in furtherance of his plans for uniting the Indians, he 
left their town and floated down the Wabash to the Ohio and thence 
into the Mississippi, continuing his journey until he reached the 
Southern Indians. 

There were many incursions made by the young Indian war- 
riors upon the thinly scattered white inhabitants of the southern 
portion of Indiana, which, of course, created sentiments of hatred 
between the whites and Indians. 

In August General Harrison issued a call for a rendezvous of 
troops to assemble on the Wabash River with a view of an expedi- 
tion to punish the Indians for these raids. About 600 Indiana 



Report of Commission. 




CAPTAIN ALFRED PIRTLE. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



41 



militia assembled at Fort Harrison, which stood where now is the 
city of Terre Haute. These were joined by a detachment of United 
States Dragoons, and a large portion of the 4th Regiment of the 
United States Infantry, Col. John P. Boyd. 

In August Harrison had made a call upon Governor Scott of 
Kentucky for volunteers to assist the Indianians, and two companies 
of mounted infantry, one under Capt. Peter Funk and the other 
under Capt. Frederick Geiger, were raised and marched to the 
encampment at Fort Harrison. There were in addition to the 
militia of Indiana, already mentioned, 103 from Kentucky and 
about 400 in the United States troops. They left the camp at 
Fort Harrison and marched slowly up the left bank of the Wabash 
until they came to Big Raccoon Creek, near where now stands 
Montezuma, where they crossed to the right bank, and marched 
up that two miles, where they erected a block house to protect the 
reserve of their provisions that had been brought to that point by 
flatboats. The rest of the march the provisions were carried in 
wagons. They were then about fifty miles below the Prophet's 
town. The route to the Prophet's town across the country on the 
left side of the Wabash would have been shorter than the route the 
expedition took, but spies had given Harrison information that it 
was dangerous 'for them to proceed by that route. The army 
marched slowly up the right bank of the river until November 5th, 
they first saw signs of Indian scouts, within a short day's march 
of the Prophet's town. The next morning, the 6th of November, 
the Indians were seen in front and on both sides, but the little com- 
mand of about 800, having been weakened by detachments left on 
the road, halted within a mile and a half of the town, where Har- 
rison said he was going into camp. The Indians came out in num- 
bers and through interpreters, insisted on their not going any 
nearer the camp, where the women and children were. Harrison 
listened to their request and under the guidance of Indians came 
to the spot now known as the Battle Field. 

About 4 o'clock in the afternoon they went into camp. The 
lines of the camp were intended by Harison for the formation of 
the troops in case they were attacked, and the troops bivouacked 
in the following order. On the north side of the camp, that part 
of the battle-field where we now are, nearest to the town of Battle 
Ground, were the companies of Kentucky under Captain Geiger and 
Captain Funk, and a company of Indiana militia on the right of 
that line. Captain Parke's company of Indiana Cavalry were right 
behind the Kentuckians, supported by Daviess of Kentucky. Now 



42 



Report of Commission. 



facing to where the railroad is, with your left to the town, the right 
end of the line on that side was held by Colonel Bartholomew with 
Indiana militia, the left of that line with regulars under Floyd. 
Down toward the south end, where the line was short, Spencer's 
Indiana militia stretched across the little neck of woods. That 
brings us back to Burnett's Creek, that still flows at the foot of the 
battle-field slopes, and facing the creek, the left of the line was held 
by Indiana militia under Lieutenant-Colonel Decker, and the right 
of the line connecting with the Kentuckians under Geiger, was held 
by the United States Regulars under Captain Barton. The wag- 
ons, horses and cattle were herded in the center of this space, formed 
by the troops. Harrison's headquarters were half way between the 
two detachments of regulars. The troops built great log piles and 
made huge fires to keep themselves warm, because the night was 
very cold. Harrison gave strict orders about what was to be done 
in case of alarm, and all men who were not on duty laid down in 
their appropriate lines with arms in their hands. He was expecting 
to be attacked, although the enemy was very friendly during the 
afternoon. 

About 4 o'clock Harrison arose among the sleeping men, pulling 
on his boots before arousing his men for parade at their different 
posts, when a single shot was fired near the northwestern angle of 
the camp on the bank of Burnett's Creek. The man who thus 
opened this famous little battle was a Kentuckian named Stephen 
Mars, a corporal on the roll of Captain Geiger's company, raised in 
Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky. After delivering his 
fire, he ran toward the camp, but was shot before he reached it. 
The horrid yells of the savages awakened the camp and were fol- 
lowed by a rapid fire upon the ranks of the companies of Baen and 
Geiger that formed that angle of the camp. Their assault was 
furious and several of them penetrated between the lines, but never 
returned. 

The whole camp was alarmed at once. 

The officers with all possible speed put their different companies 
in line of battle as they had been directed the night before. The 
fires were now extinguished, as they were more useful to the enemy 
than to the troops. The great rush which the enemy made was to 
have been a surprise, but it failed, and after that the battle was a 
trial of skill, endurance and courage. It had to be fought out 
when the first dash had not been successful. Some of the enemy 
penetrated so far into the camp that Captain Geiger, going to his 
tent for a gun for one of his soldiers, found the Indians ransack- 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



43 



ing its contents, when a brief struggle took place, which ended in 
the Indians' rapid retreat. The plan of battle on their part was to 
attack three sides of the camp at once, but the alarm was given be- 
fore those on the right flank of the whites were fully ready, though 
the entire line was finally assaulted. The Indians were now com- 
manded by the Prophet. The battle lasted two hours. Tradition 
says the Prophet stood on a large rock on the west side of the valley 
beyond the creek, encouraging the Indians by songs and promises 
of victory. At the spot where the attack began when Governor Har- 
rison reached there, he found that it had been somewhat broken 
up, and he reinforced it from the portion of the line not then en- 
gaged by the enemy. The attack shifted then to the northeast 
corner in the rear of which Maj. Jos. H. Daviess of Kentucky was 
forming his dragoons. The enemy was to the right on the slopes 
of the hill, which lead down to the fine level ground yonder to the 
east. Major Daviess sent several messages to General Harrison 
asking for permission to charge the enemy on foot. After the 
third request Harrison said: "Tell Major Daviess he has heard 
my opinion twice, that he shall have an honorable position before 
the battle is over. He may now use his discretion." The gallant 
Major, with only twenty picked men, instantly charged beyond the 
line on foot and was mortally wounded. He was a conspicuous 
mark in the gloom of the coming day, as he wore a white blanket 
coat. His party was driven back. The charge ended. Daviess 
made his way back to the line and "laid under the shade of a giant 
sycamore tree, his life ebbing slowly away, and he awaiting his last 
enemy, Death, with unquailing eye. His spirit passed out with the 
setting sun, and by the starlight his soldiers laid him in his rude 
grave, wrapped only in his soldier's blanket, and as the thud of 
the falling earth fell on their ears, they wept like children." 

The enemy swept around to the rear and fell with great severity 
on Spencer's mounted riflemen and on Warrick at the angle. Cap- 
tain Warrick was mortally wounded ; Spencer and his lieutenants 
were killed, and yet his men and Warrick's held their ground gal- 
lantly. They were reinforced at various times and held the line 
unbroken until daylight. 

Spier Spencer, the captain of the line mentioned above, was 
the most heroic in the manner of his death of all the victims of 
this battle. Harrison said officially : "Spencer was wounded in 
the head; he exhorted his men to fight valiantly. He was shot 
through both thighs and fell; still continuing to encourage them, 
he was raised up and received a ball through his body, which put 



44 



Report of Commission. 



an immediate end to his existence." Could anything have displayed 
truer courage and manhood in a higher degree? The force of his 
example imbued his men so fully with his spirit that they not only 
stubbornly held their ground for two hours, but drove the enemy 
backward, defending the right flank of the field until the fight was 
ended. 

Spencer is said to have come from Kentucky to Vincennes, and 
this seems very likely, as a brother who was seriously wounded in 
the battle died on his way home, bequeathing in his will on the 
way property to certain friends in Kentucky. Spencer's company 
being mounted, had yellow trimmings on the uniform, which gave 
them the campaign name of "Spencer's yellow jackets," and they 
favored this pugnacious insect by the way they stung the enemy- 

The battle was ended about daybreak by a charge made upon 
the Indians in the direction of where now stands the town of Battle 
Ground, and the Indians disappeared. 

One hundred and fifty-four privates were returned among the 
casualties, and 52 of them were killed or died of their wounds. The 
total loss was 188 men killed and wounded — no prisoners. The 
losses of the Indians were serious, but are variously reported. Ac- 
cording to one report they left 38 dead on the field ; 6 more dead 
were found in graves in their town. As was their almost invariable 
custom, they carried off all of their wounded. Major Wells, of 
Kentucky, said to a friend that after the battle he counted 49 new 
graves, and 54 Indians lying on the ground. An Indian woman 
who was captured said 197 Indians were missing. 

The 7th day of November was spent in burying the dead, caring 
for the wounded and throwing up log breastworks to defend the 
camp. Rumors were circulated that Tecumseh was on the march 
to rescue his brother at the head of a thousand warriors. 

"Night," says Captain Funk, "found every man mounting 
guard without food, fire or light and in a drizzling rain. The In- 
dian dogs during the dark hours produced frequent alarms by 
prowling in search of carrion about the sentinels." 

They were evidently a good deal worked up and entirely on 
the defensive. By Harrison's own account he had with him on 
entering the battle only about 800 men. Of these about one-fourth 
had been the victims of death or wounds. He had very little flour 
and no meat, for the few beeves brought along by the column were 
either driven off by the Indians or stampeded by the noises of the 
battle, and Vincennes was over 150 miles away. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



45 



The mounted men had lost several of their horses in the stam- 
pede. Many of the cattle and most of the horses were recovered on 
the 8th and 9th. The adventures in this battle furnished fireside 
talks for many years in Indiana and Kentucky. 

On the 8th the dragoons and other mounted men took posses- 
sion of the town. After getting all the copper kettles forsaken by 
their owners and as much beans and corn as they could transport, 
the army applied the torch, destroying all the huts and a consid- 
erable supply of corn, which the Indians had stored for the winter. 
Preparations were at once made for a rapid return march. The 
wounded were placed in the wagons, and with a train of 22 wagons, 
each having a load of the wounded, left camp and by night of the 
9th passed the dangerous ground where a small force of Indians 
might have inflicted serious injury. Six days of uneventful march- 
ing brought them to Fort Harrison, from which point the wounded 
floated to Vincennes in boats. Captain Snelling and his company, 
from the Fourth United States Infantry, were left as a garrison 
there. The remainder of the command arrived at Vincennes on the 
18th. By the end of the month the militia were mostly mustered out 
and sent to their homes. The people of Indiana spent a quiet winter. 
The hope of the confederacy among the Indians being entirely 
broken up, Tecumseh spent some months in the South, but returned 
during the winter and went over to the British to become the most 
prominent Indian character in the war of 1812. We must remem- 
ber that the following counties in Indiana perpetuate the names 
of participants in this battle: Harrison, Spencer, Tipton, Bar- 
tholomew, Daviess, Floyd, Parke, Randolph, Warrick, Dubois and 
White. 

The result to Kentucky of this battle was the protection to the 
homes of the whole of the State, and during the war of 1812 Indi- 
ana territory proved to be a shield against the Indians for the peo- 
ple of Kentucky. Kentucky furnished the settlers of many of the 
southern counties of Indiana, making the bonds of kinship strong 
between the two States. 

General Harrison lies upon the top of a commanding hill at 
what is called North Bend, in the State of Ohio, viewing the land- 
scape of Kentucky and the magnificent sweep of the Ohio River. 

Captain Geiger, of Kentucky, sleeps in a modestly marked 
grave in Louisville, but most of the victims of the Battle of Tip- 
pecanoe sleep within the bounds of this enclosure. The night of 
the 8th of November, 1811, Harrison had great piles of logs placed 

[4—195921 



46 



Report of Commission. 



above the graves of his dead and they were fired during the night 
and the next morning, but the Indians returned to the camp im- 
mediately after the departure of the column on the 9th, scattered 
the fires and opened the graves for the purpose of plunder. 

The next year General Hopkins visited the scene and replaced 
the scattered remains. In 1830 General Harrison, with other dis- 
tinguished persons, attended a great gathering of the survivors on 
the field. The bones of the dead on November 7, 1836, were placed 
in one grave in a tract deeded to the State on the above date, but 
who can tell where he the remains of the gallant Joe Daviess. 

Chairman Reser : I once heard Henry Ward Beecher say : 
"Families often travel in circles — the father traveling up one side, 
and his descendants down on the other." The Harrison family 
is an anomalous one in this respect. The family furnished two 
Presidents within the short space of fifty years. We are honored 
today in having with us the great-grandson of Gen. William Henry 
Harrison, and it gives me pleasure to introduce to this vast audi- 
ence Col. Russell B. Harrison, who will now address you. 



Tippecanoe Bat tie --field Monument. 



ADDRESS OF COL. RUSSELL B. HARRISON. 



Chairman Reser and Fellow-Citizens of Indiana- — I am sur- 
prised at the introduction just given me. Chairman Reser has 
given no intimation that he would call upon me to address you on 
this memorable occasion. The printed program of the unveiling 
ceremonies gives evidence of this surprise, as my name does not 
appear thereon. I assume the chairman desires, in introducing me, 
to call your attention to the fact that there is present with you on 
this occasion a great-grandson of Gen. William Henry Harrison, 
and I shall accede to his desire and address you. 

I am embarrassed in addressing you during these unveiling 
ceremonies for the reason that this stately monument, erected on 
the only great battle-field in the State of Indiana, has been erected 
for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of Gen. William 
Henry Harrison — my ancestor- — and the brave officers and soldiers 
who followed him here to protect the lives and homes of their loved 
ones, and the people who in 1811 constituted the citizens of the 
State of Indiana and our sister State of Kentucky. Being thus 
embarrassed I shall not make reference in my brief address to the 
character, experience and training, or services — civil and military — 
of Gen. William Henry Harrison, for it is better taste that all that 
is said here today should be expressed by others, not so closely and 
directly related to him by the ties of blood. 

There is one feature of the situation incident to these unveiling 
ceremonies, however, upon which I can express myself without any 
embarrassment whatever, and I am pleased to have the opportunity 
to do so. It is to pay a grateful tribute, as a citizen and soldier, to 
the brave soldiers composing the United States army, and the citi- 
zen soldiers of the States of Indiana and Kentucky, who fought 
under my great-grandfather, Gen. William Henry Harrison, who 
by their hardships, sacrifices, suffering, and in many instances 
death, during the Tippecanoe Indian campaign and battle, con- 
tributed to the redemption of Indiana and our sister States, to the 
west and north of us, from the control of the savage Indians, thus 
making possible the great commonwealths of Indiana, Illinois, 
Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and finally the acquisition of 
all the territory west of the Mississippi — now a part of the United 
States. 



Report of Commission. 




COLONEL RUSSELL B. HARRISON. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



49 



As citizens of today you know nothing of the Indian problems 
and the privations, suffering and hardships endured by the pioneers 
of Indiana. You have enjoyed in this State peace and prosperity 
all of your lives. Your forefathers, who faced these dangers, and 
who bore so bravely the pioneer privations and hardships, have gone 
to their reward. Having spent fourteen years in the Territory of 
Montana immediately following the Custer massacre, face to face 
with acute Indian problems and the hardships of frontier life, I 
can appreciate better than most of you, what our forefathers en- 
dured and triumphed over in the early days of Indiana. Therefore, 
my heart throbs in gratitude to every man whose name is inscribed 
on this beautiful granite shaft, and all who survived this historic 
Indian battle. 

As a soldier of the Spanish-American War of 1898, which made 
the United States the greatest world power, I can appreciate bet- 
ter than many who face me, the love and devotion of these soldiers 
to "Old Glory" and to their country, and their willingness to die, 
if necessary, in the worthy cause which in 1811 needed their serv- 
ices. It took greater courage than we can appreciate for the heroes 
of this battle to enlist in the military expedition up the Wabash, 
which had a triumphant termination on this spot, for they knew 
not only that they might never see their dear ones again, but if 
killed no honorable, permanent burial awaited them, but instead 
their dead bodies would be mutilated by the savage Indians and 
given to their dogs. They also knew if they were wounded there 
probably would be no surgical attendance at hand, and what was 
worse than death, if it was their lot to fall into the Indians' hands 
alive, they would be cruelly tortured and mutilated. 

For this army there were no roads, no wagon trains, nor con- 
venient base of supplies ; neither were there any well-appointed 
military hospitals for the care of the sick and wounded, nor friendly 
neighbors to encourage them as they proceeded. Notwithstanding 
these unusual dangers and hardships, our forefathers started upon 
their expedition willingly and bravely. Many never returned. 
Those whose names are inscribed on this monument bravely met and 
triumphed over death on this battle-field. They and their surviv- 
ing comrades have since been the objects of the heartfelt gratitude 
of millions of people. 

History records the precautions taken by General Harrison that 
the soldiers who fell and were buried on this field might remain 
buried here together undisturbed for all time. These plans were 
frustrated by the Indians who, after the expedition had started on 



Report of Commission. 




GENERAL BENJAMIN HARRISON. 
[1864] 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



51 



its return, dug up the bodies and after rifling, gave them to the 
Indian dogs. It is therefore most fitting, as the bones of the sol- 
diers do not rest together on this battle-field, as brave soldiers 
should, that the Nation and State of Indiana should erect this or- 
nate granite shaft, rising above the trees, which now, as then, stand 
on this hallowed spot, as a tribute of gratitude to the valor and sac- 
rifices of all soldiers who took part in the famous Indian Battle of 
Tippecanoe, fought on these grounds November 7, 1811. Every 
honor we can pay the memory of the heroes of this battle-field is 
merited and earned. 

This monument and the cause for which it so eloquently 
speaks will silently, but none the less forcibly, express to the com- 
ing generations in a measure, our gratitude to the brave men who 
fought here and sacrificed so much in our behalf. It will inspire our 
children and their children to a greater love of our country, whose 
liberty and freedom they enjoy, and urge them to maintain the 
highest type of good citizenship and obedience to the law, and yet 
while peace-loving, to be ever ready to protect the Nation, and the 
States it represents, from insult, invasion and acquisition. In re- 
turn for all they may do for our country they will find a grateful 
peeople ready to honor and do them homage. 



52 



Report of Commission. 




Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 53 

It is regrettable that on this occasion the regiment of regulars 
which fought under Gen. William Henry Harrison, which was or- 
ganized in Revolutionary days and which has been a brave and 
powerful unit in protecting our country in all the wars that have 
since followed, and on the frontier, affording the settlers protec- 
tion from the Indians, should at this time be stationed so far away 
as to make it impossible for the regiment to be present and have a 
share in the honors paid to it. It is pleasing, however, that another 
regiment, the 10th U. S. of our army, represents them. It is also 
regretable that the State of Kentucky did not send some of its citi- 
zen soldiers here, as did the State of Indiana, to take part in the 
ceremonies. For the first time in ninety-seven years have armed 
men of the United States army and the citizen soldiers of Indiana, 
been encamped upon these grounds and have paraded side by side, 
as they did on that memorable 7th day of November, 1811. 

As I am a volunteer speaker on }^our program and you are some- 
what wearied by long standing, I shall bring my remarks to a close. 
It is most pleasing to be present upon this occasion, for as a direct 
descendant of Gen. William Henry Harrison, I view with natural 
pride the tribute paid to him as a citizen, civil official and soldier, 
and the tribute to the patriotism, deeds of valor and sacrifices of 
those who served under him, which made possible the successful ter- 
mination of their campaign, and in so short a time the development 
of this great agricultural and manufacturing State. For myself 
and all the descendants of William Henry Harrison, I express the 
deepest gratitude for this beautiful and permanent recognition of 
military services ; also the many expressions of appreciation, of his 
character and services to his country. Flis love of country and 
willingness to die for it, if necessary, was transmitted to a grandson, 
Benjamin Harrison, who was also a soldier, serving in the Civil 
War from 1861 to 1865, was the means of teaching me through 
my father to respond to the needs of our country when it called 
for volunteers to protect it and stand for what was right and just 
in 1898. 

I thank you Chairman Reser for the courtesy of calling upon 
me to speak upon this occasion, and trust, fellow citizens, you ap- 
preciate the embarrassment of my situation. 



54 



Report of Commission. 




TIPPECANOE MONUMENT. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



55 



ERECTED JOINTLY BY 

THE NATION AND THE 
STATE, 

MEMORY OF THE HEROES WHO 
LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE 

BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE 
NOVEMBER 7, 13IL 

THIS MONUMENT COMPLETED AND IBEDIOATEO 

NOVEMBER 7, 1308. 



EAST TABLET. 



56 Report of Commission. 



OFFICERS KILLED 



COLONEL ABRAM OWEN. 

MAJOR JOSEPH H.DAVIESS. 

CAPTAIN - — - JACOB WARRICK. 

CAPTAIN SPIER SPENCER. 

LIEUTENANT RICHARD M5MAHAN. 

LIEUTENANT THOMAS BERRY. 

CORPORAL JAMES MITCHELL. 

CORPORAL . STEPHEN MARS. 

CAPTAIN . _ WM. C. BAEN 



HONORABLE JOHN TIPTON 

WHO FOUGHT IN THIS BATTLE 
DONATED THESE GROUNDS TO THE STATE OF INDIANA 

NOVEMBER 1 1836. 



WEST TABLET. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



57 



AMERICAN FORCES. 

MEN ENGAGED, 910. 

GENERAL Wm. HENRY HARRISON COMMANDING 

ATTACKED AT 4,00 .O'CLOCK A.M. 
INDIAN FORCES LED BY PROPHET. 
NUMBER ENGAGED ABOUT THE SAME AS 
AMERICANS. 

LOSS.- AMERICANS, KILLED 37. 

WOUNDED 151. 
INDIAN LOSS UNKNOWN. 



58 



Report of Commission. 



PRIVATES KILLED IN ACTION 



JAMES ASBERRY, 

EDWARD BUTNER, 

JONATHAN CREWELL. 

THOMAS CLENDENNAN. 

WILLIAM DAVIS, 

PETER HANKS, 

HENRY JONES, 

WILLIAM KING, 

DANIEL LEE, 
WILLIAM MEEHAN, 
JACK OBAH, 
KADER POWELL, 
JOHN SANDBORN, 
JOSEPH SMITH, 
WILLIAM TISSLER, 
IRA T. TROWBRIDGE, 
JOSEPH WARNOGK, 
ABRAHAM WOOD, ; 



FRANCIS BONAH, 
JOSEPH BURDITT, 
LEVI GARY, 
MARSHALL DUNKEN, 
DEXTER EARLL, 
HENRY HICKEY, 
DAVID KEARNS, 
ABRAHAM KELLY, 
DANIEL MSMICKLE, 
ISAAC M. NUTE, 
JOHN OWSLEY, 
AMOS ROYCE, 
SAMUEL SAND, 
JAMES SUMMERVILLE, 
LEWIS TAYLOR, 
JOSEPH TIBBETTS, 
LEMAN E. WELCH, 
ISAAC WHITE, 



JOHN YEOMANS. 



SOUTH TABLET. 

The Commission decided to place upon the monument the names of all 
those who died before the army started on its return march, which gives a total 
of forty-six names instead of the thirty-seven who were killed outright. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



59 



Afternoon Exercises. 



Tippecanoe Battee-feeed, November 7, 1908. 

1 o'clock. 

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Hon. Job S. Sims, 
and the following prayer was delivered by the Rev. A. L. Miller, 
of Battle Ground: 

O God of Infinite love, we thank Thee for Thy revelation to 
man, and for Thy manifold blessings, and for the uplift to nations 
that a faith in Thee has brought. 

We rejoice in the material prosperity of our great nation, in 
the well-earned achievements of her history, in the enlargement of 
her intellectual vision, and in the embodiment of the Spirit of the 
Man of Galilee in bringing about the peaceful relations among 
the nations of the world. 

We art taught in Thy Word that Thou art pleased with heroic 
struggles for the right, and that future generations may profit, 
Thou hast ordained that memorials may be kept that these imbibing 
the spirit of the struggles, may be able to fight life's battles in 
their own time, and to write their page in history well. 

As we are assembled on this historic ground today that has been 
made memorable by the decisive battle fought thereon nearly a 
century ago, and which has been sanctified by the blood of brave 
men in a heroic struggle for civilization and right, we pray that we 
may be impressed with the sanctity of this occasion, and that we 
may play our part in the great drama of life with as much love 
for the right, and as courageously, as did those whose names and 
deeds we honor today ; and we pray that the exercises of this day 
may be to us an inspiration for holy living, and that this monu- 
ment, so silent, yet so majestic, dedicated today to the memory of 
a just cause, may be a constant reminder that noble deeds still live 
in the minds and hearts of the American people. 

We pray, O Lord, for the righteous maintenance of our people, 
for our President and his advisers ; for the Governors of our States, 
and for all in official position. We pray for the man of wealth and 
for the man in poverty ; for the man of intellectual renown, and 



60 



Report of Commission. 



for the man who is less fortunate; for the man who is living n 
holy life, and for the man who is desecrating life, that somehow in 
the onward march of civilization and truth, as God presides over the 
destiny of nations, there may be realized in every community and 
every household the monument of righteousness, that speaks in 
tones of Infinite love, and represents the greatest sacrifice the world 
has ever known. And then when the last page in life's book has 
been written, and when nations will be no more, we shall gather 
about Thy throne as heroes of a just cause, and bring forth the 
royal diadem and crown Jesus King of kings and Lord of lords. 
We ask it all in His name. Amen. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 




MISS JUNE WALLIS. 



62 



Report of Commission. 



PRESENTATION OF MONUMENT TO STATE AND 

NATION. 



The Hon. Job S. Sims : 

To the Honorable Secretary of War and to the Governor of the 
State of Indiana — On Sunday, May 1, 1892, the grand army posts 
of the City of Lafayette met with the post at Battle Ground, and 
it was decided to form a monument association. Each year after 
that meetings were held at which the children decorated the graves 
of the dead, the choirs of Battle Ground sang patriotic music, and 
stirring addresses were made by eminent men. The result was the 
creation of a mighty sentiment in favor of the erection of a monu- 
ment, which culminated in the passage of bills through the legisla- 
ture of Indiana and Congress, appropriating a total of $25,000. 
Your commissions, acting jointly as one commission, met and or- 
ganized January 6, 1908. They selected the site for the monu- 
ment ; they selected the design submitted by McDonnell & Sons ; 
they selected the material ; they awarded the contract to McDonnell 
& Sons, February 12, 1908, for $24,500; at the request of the 
commission, inscriptions were written by Alva O. Reser, most of 
which were adopted. 

Our work is before you. If it meet with your approval we ask 
that you accept this monument in the name of the Nation and the 
State, and we know that you, Governor Hanly, will freely pledge 
the faith of the State to care for it, along with these grounds, in 
accordance with the spirit of the State Constitution and the man- 
date of the national act. Tippecanoe County appropriated $750, 
and tablets have been erected to seven of the officers who lost their 
lives in this battle. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



63 



ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR J. FRANK HANLY. 



Governor J. Frank Hanly accepted the monument on behalf of 
the State as follows : 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Tippecanoe Battle-field 
Monument Commission — Out of the patriotic impulse of a grate- 
ful people — the endeavor and zeal of the members of the Tippe- 
canoe Battle-field Memorial Association — the efforts of the Senator 
from Tippecanoe and of one of the State's distinguished members 
of Congress- — the action of State Assembly and National Congress 
— the intelligence, courage and faithfulness with which you have 
discharged your duties in the selection of design and material — 
the genius of the architect who planned and of the artist who fash- 
ioned its accompanying statue — and the skill and patience of the 
mechanics who constructed it, there arises this day this splendid 
shaft, beautiful in design, magnificent in proportions and enduring 
in character. 

As we stand in its silent, solemn presence we admit without dis- 
sent that you have planned wisely and have builded well. The quar- 
ries of Wisconsin and the granite hills of Vermont lay piled before 
us in lasting tribute upon soil we love — soil hallowed by heroic deeds 
and sanctified by sacrificial blood. 

And now in the name and in behalf of the people of Indiana 
Territory, and in the name and in behalf of the people of this now 
proud and mighty State, of all who were,, of all who are, and of all 
who shall be, I accept it from your hands with pride and gratitude, 
and do now dedicate it forever to the memory of those who here, 
ninety-seven years ago, beneath these trees, amid November's gray 
and lagging dawn, battled for and won an empire, richer now by 
far than any land the world then knew. 

Here these trees — these sturdy, stately trees — oaks, surviving 
monarchs of a forest gigantic, now long since extinct — have 
watched with unfailing vigilance through the changing seasons of 
a hundred years, less only three, the unbroken slumber of our dead. 
Amid the storms and snows of winter they have stood, unwearied 
sentinels, waiting with perfect faith the coming of the hour when 
returning spring should clothe anew their naked boughs with 
foliage, and bring again the throb of life to every sleeping twig 
and tissue. Through the heat of summer, lifting high and ever 



64 



He port of Commission. 



higher their plumed and emerald- j eweled arms toward the blue 
beauty of the arched and vaulted sky, they have spread their shad- 
ows like a sun-flecked mantle above these mounds our loving hands 
have fashioned. 

Amid the sad and transient glories of the autumn, dropping 
their leaves like mortal tributes laid upon the bier of one beloved, 
they have wrapped these graves about with robes of scarlet, of 
russet and of gold ; and have sighed farewells and requiems amid 
moaning winds and chill November rains. From this vale-encircled, 
river-belted hill, thrown up by Nature's giant hands, they have 
looked upon the miracles of morning and of night — the birth and 
death of day — five times ten thousand times, and have caught with 
unvoiced joy the gleam and lost with silent grief the glint of rising 
and of setting suns. 

And now this monument- — j oint tribute of Republic and of Com- 
monwealth — raises its form and summit far above these regal chil- 
dren of the primal past that the vigil of a century may not be 
broken when they, falling, shall cease to watch above our dead. 

They have all but lived their day. Vigils for them soon will be 
no more, but this imposing shaft which you have builded will sur- 
vive their fall and speak in silent eloquence through all the gath- 
ering, multiplying years of the valor and the courage of those who 
struggled here- — who fought and fell. 

It will become a shrine for Freedom's devotees. About it men 
will gather to recount the deeds it commemorates and in its presence 
renew with high resolve their vows of constancy to home and friend 
and country. The children of a later generation than we will know 
will play about the exedra where we now stand and pause to spell 
the names engraved upon these entablatures — names held in trust 
for them with granite grip — and spelling them grow still with awe. 

Thenceforth the graves assembled yonder will hold for them a 
deeper meaning, and the spots where Daviess fell, where Spencer 
died, and where Owen yielded up his* life will each grow rich with 
consecrated memories. 

It is peculiarly fitting that the State and the Nation should 
unite in erecting this monument. The battle fought here affected 
the destiny of both. Here Indiana's and Kentucky's sons, citizen- 
soldiers, frontiersmen, fresh from cabin homes builded in primeval 
forests— stood with the trained and disciplined infantry of the 
general government — stood and held this trembling hill against a 
horde of crafty, cruel, savage foes, and bore themselves as stal- 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



65 



wart, fearless men — stood amid the mystery and the darkness until 
the light of day crept in among the trees — stood and fought and 
would not yield. The field was held and the victory won, not by 
the regulars alone, but by the volunteers as well, by men in uniform 
and by men in woodsman's garb — by those whose trade was war and 
by those who fought only to protect their cabin homes and those 
they loved from the peril of torch and knife. 

The present State of Indiana contains 35,885 square miles of 
territory, stretching from the Great Lakes to the Ohio River. 
Through the battle waged here this was opened to settlement and 
a pathway made to statehood. What changes the intervening years 
have wrought ! Then there were less than 25,000 people living in 
the area named; now there are 2,775,708. Then the accumulated 
wealth was nil ; now more than $1,700,000,000. Then, as a people, 
we were without schools, without culture, without literature ; now 
our schools are among the best in all the world, our people are cul- 
tured, and the fame of our literature nation-wide. Then we had no 
history; now our history is inspiring and is linked forever with 
that of a mighty Nation. 

By this battle the power of Tecumseh and the savage tribes he 
led was broken forever, the people of Ohio and Kentucky were made 
secure in the possession of their homes and an empire aggregating 
more than 200,000 square miles of territory was freed from the 
peril of Indian massacre. From this domain four states have been 
carved — Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. These, with 
Ohio, are today sufficient in territory, in natural resources, in ac- 
cumulated wealth, in population, in culture and in power to con- 
stitute a nation within themselves. Then there were in all the Re- 
public but 7,250,000 people ; now these five States alone have a 
population of more than 17,000,000, and their wealth is many times 
greater than the aggregate wealth of all the country then. They 
would constitute in population, in natural resources, in accumulated 
wealth, in the culture, intelligence, individuality and initiative of 
their people a far greater nation than that sought to be erected 
from the slave States in 1860. Their population is one-half great- 
er, and the excess of their wealth almost beyond comparison. And 
yet those States were great enough in all the elements of nationalty 
to carry on for four years such a war as the world has rarely seen. 

Here the foundation of a great man's fame was laid and the 
name of Tippecanoe linked forever with that of Harrison. Tip- 
pecanoe, Fort Meigs and the Thames were but steps in the evolu- 



66 



Report of Commission. 



tion of a life replete with signal service, ennobled by great endeavor 
and crowned in its closing days with the highest preferment a par- 
tial people could bestow. 

Commissioned by Washington a lieutenant in the army at 18, 
he rose to high rank and great command. Given the command of 
the Northwestern army in 1812, he was instructed to act in all cases 
according to his own discretion and judgment, a latitude rarely 
given to the commander of an American army . 

He held many civil offices, secretary of the Northwest Territory, 
delegate in Congress, State Senator, Governor of Indiana Terri- 
tory, presidential elector, representative in Congress, United States 
Senator, Minister to Columbia, and President of the United States. 

He never faltered in the discharge of any duty nor shrank from 
the responsibilities of any position. He commanded armies with 
ability, discretion and skill and served in civil office with conspicu- 
ous fidelity. 

He often received honorable mention in the reports of his su- 
periors, was complimented on the field of battle for gallantry in 
-action, received the thanks of general assemblies and of Congress, 
and died beloved by all the people. 

He loved the government he served and in his inaugural ad- 
dress made high plea for the Union: "It is union that we want — 
not a party for the sake of that party, but a union of the whole 
country for the sake of the whole country." 

Scion of a sturdy, intellectual and martial ancestry, he added 
to its achievements and its fame and became the ancestor of a de- 
scendant greater yet than himself or any that had preceded him. 

The lives of grandsire and of grandson exemplify and accent- 
uate the truth of the grandson's words, "A great life does not go 
out, it goes on." 

The life of William Henry Harrison did not go out, it went on ; 
it still goes on and will go on. Other generations shall rise to be 
blessed by its influence and called to noble endeavor by its deeds. 
It flowered again and ripened anew in the life of the great grand- 
son whose fame we but recently commemorated in the capital city 
of the State in a statue of bronze, with music, oratory and song. 

Neither shaft of granite nor statue of bronze is needed to per- 
petuate the memories of these men, but we do well to build these 
memorials and to dedicate them to their memories. In the act of 
conception, building and dedication we bespeak our gratitude and 
voice our hearts' desire to be like them in purity of purpose, in lofti- 
ness of courage and in the exalted character of service rendered. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



67 



It is meet that this shaft should rise to mark the spot where those 
who struggled here contended, and that the granite form and mar- 
tial visage of him who commanded here should rise above the dead 
who in life he here led to battle and to glory. 

To private soldier, regular and volunteer, in uniform and in 
frontier garb, to officer and command, to those who fell, and to 
those who fought and lived, we dedicate this stately obelisk. 

They were representatives of a conquering race, founders of 
States, builders of empire, prophets of a new earth, torch-bearers 
of a new civilization, evangels of a precious gospel. 

General Carmen, in the name and in behalf of the sovereign 
Commonwealth of Indiana, I present to you, as the representative 
of the Government of the United States of America, this evidence 
of a grateful people's love and veneration for those who died in the 
founding of that Commonwealth, in the building of that Nation. 



Report of Commission. 




GENERAL E. A. CARMEN. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



69 



ADDRESS OF GEN. E. A. CARMEN. 



General Carmen, in accepting the monument on behalf of the 
Secretary of War, said : 

Governor Hanly, Members of the Commission and Fellow-Citi- 
zens — It gives me great pleasure to be with you this beautiful day, 
to participate in your tender of tribute to the memory of William 
Henry Harrison, a man of military renown and high civic virtue, 
and the gallant men who, under his command here on this historic 
field nearly a century ago, won a victory that advanced the frontier 
line of civilization into the great northwest and established one of 
the great landmarks of the nation's history. Not until late on 
Thursday last did I know that it was expected I would be with you 
today, and I have had neither time nor opportunity to prepare an 
address fitting the occasion. This perhaps is not to be regretted, 
for those who have addressed you have given more satisfactorily 
than I can the salient points in the life, character and deeds of the 
man and his associates we this day honor. It remains for me in 
behalf of the Secretary of War and the Congress of the United 
States the very pleasant duty of thanking and congratulating you, 
Governor Hanly, and the members of the monument commission, 
and all who have been associated with you, upon the zeal, energy 
and good taste and economy you have shown in the work, and in be- 
half of the United States we accept the beautiful tribute you have 
erected to the memory of the father of the great northwest and the 
brave men who served under him. 



70 



Report of Commission. 




COLONEL JOHN W. WARNER. 



Col. John W. Warner, of Lafayette, on the day of the dedication of the 
Tippecanoe monument, had charge of all the military. After the exercises at 
the monument, under the direction of Colonel Warner, two battalions of the 
Tenth Regiment, U. S. Infantry, from Fort Benjamin Harrison, under com- 
mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Cecil, gave a beautiful dress parade. 



Addresses in Behalf of 

MONUMENT PROJECT 

Delivered on Battlefield 

at Various Times 



Report of Commission. 




Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



73 



ADDRESS BY THE HON. M. E. CLODFELTER. 

(At Battle Ground, Sunday, June 26, 1893.) 



Ladies and Gentlemen — I congratulate you upon the interest 
manifested by you in the purposes, aims and objects of this meet- 
ing. You have a great county and a beautiful and wealthy city. 
All your surroundings denote a vigorous and prosperous people. 
I see in front of me a large number of old soldiers — the remnants 
of the war of 1861. 

They have experienced the horrors of war in all their reality, 
though years have passed since the close of that gigantic struggle ; 
yet the memory of the suffering, hardships, devastation and death 
it occasioned are indelibly stamped upon your minds. Knowing 
these things as you do, you prefer peace to war, but at all times a 
peace consistent with the honor and integrity of your country. 

There are soldiers in times of peace as well as in times of war. 
It is our patriotic duty as soldiers of peace to do all in our power, 
consistent with the preservation of our form of government, to 
avoid war and its baneful consequences ; but if the integrity of our 
country is threatened, or the lives or liberty of our people threat- 
ened or invaded, the spirit of patriotism must be kept alive and 
burning to meet the occasion. Those who respond to their coun- 
try's call in times of emergency, must not be forgotten by their 
country or their countrymen. 

Monuments erected in honor of the heroic dead, serve as an in- 
spiration to the living. The mantle of government will soon rest 
upon the young men of the future, and they should be prepared 
to assume that responsibility in keeping with the patriotism and 
loyalty of the past. 

This is a historic spot. The battle fought and the victory won 
by General Harrison and his men was the beginning of the end of 
Indian warfare in the great Northwest Territory. A monument 
erected upon this sacred spot will not only do honor to the brave 
men who won the victory, but will serve to impress upon the minds 
of the coming generations the historic importance of the place and 
the events which it commemorates. I again congratulate you for 
your enterprise in this worthy undertaking, and trust that you may 
be successful. 




GENERAL LEW WALLACE 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 75 



ADDRESS BY GEN. LEW WALLACE. 

(Delivered at Tippecanoe Battle-ground, Sunday, June 20, 1899.) 



Ladies and Gentlemen — I take it for granted that every one 
in this assemblage native to the State of Indiana loves it. So the 
adopted citizen, if he does not love, at least respects it. It is some- 
thing with which you are all familiar. Your habit is to traverse it 
almost daily ; for there was never a people who did so much going 
up and down the earth. Withal, however, I am tempted to ask you 
a question which I will get well off with if at first it be met with 
only a smile. What is Indiana? 

When, recovered from surprise, you are moved to treat the 
query with soberness, you will each answer according to your bent. 
The curt man will say it is a State ; the politer person, if he be 
scientific, will recur to its geology or triangulation ; the poet will 
quote Longfellow ; the geographer will hurry up his parallels ; the 
politician will speak after his lights ; yet, I respectfully submit, 
none of them will have answered to the advantage of the subject. 

The age is utilitarian and materialistic, and by that idea we are 
governed whether we will or not. So, if you insist upon a definition 
of Indiana from me, I will meet you as a statistician who insists 
that nothing conveys comprehension like figures. Observe, if you 
please, how much I will be able by that resort to crowd into an 
interval scarce more than the space of a breath — how much of his- 
tory, area, prosperity, production ; then observe that I have fur- 
ther accomplished what is my special aim, an answer which will set 
before you the power of Indiana, one of a community of States 
marching, in bonds of happiest union, toward Christian control of 



the earth. 

Settled at Vincennes 1702 

Admitted as a state 1816 

Population in 1890 2,192,404 

Real property $567,000,000 

Personal property $227,000,000 

Area in square miles 36,350 

Miles of railroad 6,046 

Manufactures (yearly) $148,000,000 

Farm land in acres 21,000,000 

Farm land values $635,000,000 

Public schools 10,000 

Newspapers 600 



76 



Report of Commission. 



Assuredly, my friends, we have reason to be proud of the State, 
especially when it is considered that the results tabulated make a 
sum of achievements occupying barely eighty years. Then as to 
the future, calculate boldly, remembering that the ratio of increase 
accelerates of itself, exactly like the ratio of increase of money at 
compound interest. 

I fear now lest some of you might regard this line of speech, if 
persisted in, a dry entertainment. Wherefore, turning to matter 
more interesting, let us see how the power I have figured before 
you under the name Indiana came about ; when I have finished 
every one of you will have a higher respect for what was done here 
by our fathers. 

Ladies and gentlemen, we do not all know enough of the history 
of our State. In our public schools and colleges we are crammed 
with Greece and Rome and Europe, their wars and literature, but 
of Indiana, nothing clear and determinate — I came near saying, of 
Indiana, nothing — nothing at all. 

Suppose the prize boy or girl asked, who settled Indiana? The 
probabilities are you would have in reply, Indiana was settled by 
the English, or by the American colonists from New England or 
Virginia. That would be very agreeable to our Anglo-Saxonism, 
but it would not be the truth. 

How it is with you, I do not know ; but with me the origin of 
a power, commercial, political or social, and its growth and devel- 
opment, are of transcending interest. This I would have you un- 
derstand as a remark of general application; then naturally how 
much greater must my interest be in the origin and growth of a 
power constituting a factor of immense and abiding importance to 
our country. Such is Indiana. 

I assert confidently, if to study the past of our State one re- 
quires the incentive of romance, he can not go amiss for it; for, 
singularly enough, all of romantic incident pertaining to the early 
settlement of Canada west of Montreal, and all of like incident 
properly of the Mississippi Valley from Illinois and Missouri to 
Louisiana inclusive is inseparable from Indiana. This I know is 
very broad and sweeping ; but I also know that now I have your 
attention, and will proceed to make my assertion good. 

Great Britain and France, you remember, were competitors for 
dominion in North America. Contrary to the general idea, the 
French for a long time led in the rivalry, a circumstance due to 
their better management of the Indians. They had also the ad- 
vantage of earlier colonization in the part of America north of the 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



77 



Potomac. Years prior to the coming of the Puritan Fathers, mis- 
sionaries from France had established the Roman Catholic Church 
in the eastern half of Maine, and the beggars of St. Francis — beg- 
gars by vow — had penetrated the woods of the Mohawk. One of 
them, LeCarson, on foot or in a birch bark boat, reached the rivers 
of Lake Huron in the North. 

In 1627, Louis XII created New France, giving it, by charter ? 
to Cardinal Richilieu, Champlain, and others. This was a gorgeous 
dream of royalty. Besides the basin of the St. Lawrence, the coun- 
try south of Virginia was included in its limits. Thus the most 
Christian king provided for the extension of commerce. The care 
of souls he entrusted to the Society of Jesus. 

Prejudice aside, my friends, a student of the operations of the 
Jesuits at this period in America will be driven to admit that there 
is more romance connected with them than is to be found in the 
whole history of colonization elsewhere. As a theme for an epic 
poem they will compare with the emigration of Aeneas and his 
expatriated Trojans to Italy. 

Laffemand, Raymbault, Jacques, Rene Soupil, Bressani, 
Chauminot, Dablon, Rene Misnard, and others like them, serv- 
ants of France as well as God, most of them at the cost 
of their lives, carried the dominion of Louis into every quarter — 
into Maine, and the vine-clad vales of western New York, down to 
the parks of Albany, out westwardly to the Falls of St. Mary, and 
to the green shores of Lake Superior; whence, just beyond, lay 
the mysterious and shifting distances of the Mississippi — all this, 
mark you, years before Eliot, the New England divine, had ad- 
dressed the tribe of natives dwelling within six miles of Boston 
harbor. 

When you get home, ladies and gentlemen, take down the third 
volume of your Bancroft, and, if romance is what you want, read 
the stories of those Jesuit fathers and the part they took in the set- 
tlement of our America. They were such heroes as there is no 
demand for today. They reached the utmost limit of religious de- 
votion. In death, as in life, their imitation of Jesus Christ has 
never been surpassed. They established missions, founded villages 
and towns, and built convents, hospitals and colleges, and sought 
and found the crown of martyrdom. And as you read you will 
see how easy it is to believe there were Sir Galahads among them, 
and that the Holy Grail was a vision of the wilderness, and came to 
them often, a comforter at the stake and always a consolation. 

In 1665, Father Claude Allonez undertook a mission to the far 

[6—19592] 



78 



Report of Commission. 



West. He passed the rapids by which the upper lakes empty their 
tribute into the Huron ; thence he paddled into the lake, and by 
the pictured rocks, and on the south shore said mass, and, by virtue 
of discovery, claimed the region, its land and inland seas for 
France. On the shore of the bay, in a village of the Chippewas, 
he planted a chapel ; and there came to him to receive instructions 
bands of savages who had never seen a white man — Potawatomies, 
Sacs and Foxes, Illinois — and from Indians of the further west, he 
heard definitely of the river Mississippi. 

Then, in 1668, Allonez was joined by Fathers James Mar- 
quette, and Claude Dablon. Marquette, listening to him, was in- 
spired to undertake discovery of the Great River. Congress of 
Nations was proposed. The tribes of Lake Superior, and those of 
the north and south were invited. Nicholas Perot, a messenger, se- 
cured an escort of Potawatomies, and was the first European 
amongst the Miamis at Chicago. 

The day of the congress was a great day. The sun, risen over 
the Falls of St. Mary, looked down on an assembly of representa- 
tive savages from far and near, who could not sate their curiosity 
gazing at officers of France uniformed in gold. A cross of cedar 
was set up ; the company of Frenchmen chanted a hymn ; by the 
cross a cedar column was erected, marked with the lilies of the 
Bourbons. So, France laid a hand of possession upon the heart of 
the continent, and two great tribes of Indiana, the Potawatomies 
and Miamis, and one of Illinois, were willing witnesses of the deed. 

Marquette went next to the authorities of Canada proposing to 
explore the Mississippi, and carry a nag of France to the Pacific, 
if the river would bear him thither, or to the Gulf of Mexico, if 
that was its direction. The ambition of the king was fired, and 
the adventurer bidden go. There were with him at starting, Joliet, 
a brother missionary, five Frenchmen, and two Algonquin guides. 
On the banks of the Wisconsin the Christians were left alone. In 
the words of Marquette, "France and Christianity stood in the Val- 
ley of the Mississippi." In two canoes they descend the Wisconsin, 
and in seven days they "entered happily the Great River," and 
Wisconsin was added to New France. On they went — on past the 
mouth of the Ohio, then called the Wabash — on to the junction of 
the Missouri — on yet through unknown peoples. A pipe of peace, 
bright with the plumage of birds, and hanging across the breast 
of Marquette, was their strange and only safeguard. On still, 
past the junction with the Arkansas river. Not till then was it def- 
initely ascertained that the Father of Waters stayed his mighty cur- 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



79 



rent in the Gulf of Mexico. It was enough. The explorer turned 
his face northward. Joliet was sent to Quebec to proclaim the dis- 
covery. Marquette stayed to preach the gospel to the Miamis of 
Chicago. On the bank of a little river in Michigan he erected an 
altar, said mass, and being left alone for half an hour, "fell 
asleep," as Bancroft says, "on the margin of the stream that bears 
his name." 

The conclusion of the discovery was left to Robert Cavalier de 
la Salle, a trader with the soul of a soldier. Passing up the St. 
Joseph river, La Salle and his party carried their stores across the 
portage, and launched themselves on the Kankakee, from which 
they entered the Illinois ; and so France acquired Indiana and Illi- 
nois. This was all in 1679. Louisiana and Texas came on a little 
later. 

Look now, and see the new empire — Canada west of Montreal, 
the great lakes, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Indi- 
ana, both littoral of the Mississippi southward to the gulf, and all 
the unknown world, river and mountain bearing, off to Oonalaska's 
sounding shore. So, in this first epoch of American settlement, we 
find Indiana a part of New France. I said, "My friends, the ro- 
mance of the era was inseparable from our noble State." Did I not 
speak aright? 

The second epoch in the history of Indiana is better known, and 
on that account admits of briefer disposition. There came a time 
when Great Britain and her American colonists awoke to an appre- 
ciation of New France, and resolved to possess it. There was war, 
and after a while the French were ousted. The romances of the first 
epoch were religious ; those of the second are military. It is not 
strange that in the struggle, unconfined to any locality, the Indians 
were allies of the French. In the shadowy frontier we catch 
glimpses of agencies, some of them of exceeding interest to us. We 
see Washington, a youthful surveyor, and later a soldier of Vir- 
ginia fighting France and her savage allies. Braddock, haughty, 
but brave, marches through the fretted period, going to his defeat 
and death. When finally the epoch closes, New France is an append- 
age of the British, and Indiana a full partner in the conquest — 
Indiana reaching up from her mergement, and stirring, with the 
whispers of destiny in her ear — Indiana grown more distinctive. 

Ladies and gentlemen, the first era in the history of Indiana 
ended with the expulsion of the French; the second, with the ex- 
pulsion of the British ; the third is ours, and we are standing in its 
early morning light. Can anything better become us than to un- 



80 



Report of Commission. 



derstand it from the beginning? I say the battle fought here was 
its beginning. Let us see. 

The contest between the French and British proved rather an 
incentive than a deterrant to colonists along the Atlantic. Scaling 
the Alleghanies, they poured into the valley of the Ohio. The 
British did not look lovingly upon the movement. They recognized 
it a force to be opposed. At length Congress took a decided step, 
and acting prophetically created the Territory of the Northwest, 
covering the region out of which six States were subsequently 
carved — Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minne- 
sota. 

Indiana meantime had risen distinctively. For nearly a century 
the French, passing from Lake Erie to the Mississippi river, had 
traversed it. Their route was by way of the Maumee river, the 
Wabash and the Ohio, with a portage in the vicinity of Lafayette. 
At the source of the Maumee, at Wea Prairie, and at Vincennes, 
they had established trading posts and villages, determining not 
only that Indiana was a favorite even in its merged condition, but 
also the home and haunt of a multitude of Indians. Yet later, its 
new possessors distinguished it by keeping Vincennes a seat of jus- 
tice, or what we would call headquarters or capital. Such it was 
when George Rogers Clark wrested the fort from them; and in 
that light it becomes a matter of quick understanding how, upon 
its fall, the English abandoned the region, retiring into Canada. 

At first glance one would think that the disappearance of the 
British must leave Indiana without an obstruction to the advancing 
settlers. No so. The Indians remained, and had next to be dis- 
posed of. 

In 1800 Congress created the Territory of Indiana, and Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison, who had been Governor of the Territory of 
the Northwest, was continued at Vincennes, Governor of the new 
Territory. Still the Indians stayed in their old haunts, and the con- 
dition was war, cruel and relentless. White men were shot down 
in their fields. Women and children were awakened in their cabins 
at night by the war whoop ; somettimes by the crackling flames 
in the roof over their heads. 

This could not go on. The suffering Territory had become a 
hope of the nation. It still covered with its name and jurisdiction 
the present States of Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of 
Minnesota. Nor that only. Four years after its organization its 
name and jurisdiction were extended to embrace the unknown and 
indefinite West, from Ohio to Oregon. Virginia had been less a 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



81 



mother of States than Indiana ; and it is no cause of shame that 
when the final partition came she was left in area the least of all 
her splendid progeny. 

Great peoples, my friends, are those who come up through trib- 
ulations. Indiana, as has been observed, was the home and favorite 
hunting ground for Indians of many tribes. They infested the 
rivers, forests and prairies. They knew the soils most favorable 
to corn. Their veneration for the graves of their fathers was a 
deathless trait. They had eyes for fair landscapes and far views 
under bright skies, and divine directions through pathless woods 
and starless nights, instinct serving them as it serves birds and 
foxes. War and hunting were passions to which they were born, 
and they clung to Indiana as souls are supposed to cling to Para- 
dise. White settlers they regarded as mortal enemies whom it was 
a duty to kill. Such were the savage spirits in the way ; clearing 
land for peaceful farming was waiting on them; and so one last 
crowning achievement was reserved for the squatters and warran- 
tees first to penetrate the royal preserves of nature primevally in 
Indiana. And to that I am now come. 

An Indian named Tecumseh was the chief obstacle confronting 
the settler. He was born in Clark county, Ohio. Like Caesar, he 
was both statesman and warrior. Brave and of matchless elo- 
quence, he yielded himself and his genius to two inspirations, hate 
of Americans, and an idea said to have been borrowed from Pon- 
tiac, the bringing all the tribes north and south into a confedera- 
tion for offense and defense. His following was regardless of 
tribal distinctions. In 1808, he and a brother, who assumed the 
functions of a prophet, were invited by the Pottawatomies to come 
and live with them in their country, and accepting, he joined them 
in building a town known as Tippecanoe, or the Prophet's Town, 
which quickly arose into importance, being both the headquarters 
of the Prophet and of the confederacy. He established relations 
with the British in Canada, and, while holding talks, sometimes 
stormy, sometimes peaceful with the Territorial authorities, was 
really organizing war against them. These practices he continued 
down to 1811, when, in furtherance of his great scheme, he went 
south, leaving the Prophet in control of his affairs in Indiana. 

The Territorial seat of government, as has been said, was in Vin- 
cennes. Governor Harrison had a proper idea of Tecumseh. In an 
official report he spoke of him, and there is so much of characteriza- 
tion in what he said that I can not refrain from quotation — "If it 
were not for the vicinnVy of the United States he would perhaps be 



82 



Report of Commission. 



the founder of an empire that would rival in glory Mexico and 
Peru. No difficulties deter him. For four years he has been in 
constant motion. You see him today on the Wabash and in a short 
time hear of him on the shores of Lake Erie or Michigan, or on 
the banks of the Mississippi, and wherever he goes he makes an 
impression favorable to his purpose. He is now upon the last 
rounds to put a finishing stroke upon his work. I hope, however, 
before his return that that part of the work which he considered 
complete will be demolished and even its foundation rooted up." 

The Governor's judgment was sound, and it was time to act. 
A few months more — possibly a few weeks — and the whole frontier, 
thousands of miles in extent, might be drenched in blood. The at- 
tempt at extermination was certain to fall heaviest upon Indiana. 
In fact, the war was already begun. 

On the 26th of September, 1811, the Governor set out from 
Vincennes for the Prophet's town. At 2 o'clock, November 6, he 
halted and encamped within two miles of his destination. 

Let me stop here to correct some popular delusions. Many in- 
telligent persons, failing to realize the extent of settlement in In- 
diana, believe the battle of Tippecanoe was fought by soldiers of 
the regular army and by Kentuckians. The best way to settle the 
point is to speak by the records of the United States war office. 
By these records the total of the army actually engaged was a few 
men over nine hundred. Two hundred and fifty of them were of 
the Fourth regiment of the United States Infantry; sixty were 
Kentuckians ; the rest, six hundred strong, were militia of the Ter- 
ritory of Indiana, raised, we are told, at Corydon, Vincennes, and 
points along the Wabash and Ohio rivers — six hundred, or nearly 
two-thirds of the army. 

This, ladies and gentlemen, was as it should have been. The 
firesides to be defended were of Indiana. Saying now that the 
six hundred behaved well, why should they not receive their due 
proportion of the glory? With respect to their conduct, hear 
what Harrison says: "But I have not given them (the regulars) 
all the honor of the victory. To have done so, I should have been 
guilty of a violence of truth, of justice, and a species of treason 
against our Republic itself, whose peculiar and appropriate force 
is its militia. With equal pride and pleasure, then, do I pronounce 
that, notwithstanding the regular troops did as well as men ever did, 
many of the militia were in nowise inferior to them." 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



83 



But we ought to do better by these brave men, I continue, than 
we have. We ought, if possible, to find a measure for the honor 
they won that memorable night in November; for when it is found 
we will have wherewith to measure the gratitude we owe them. 

Undoubtedly there have been greater battles than this one of 
Tippecanoe — greater in the numbers engaged and in the number 
killed and wounded— yet few have been more decisive, and still fewer 
attended with greater results. Bear with me while I tell you of 
at least one of these results. Perhaps you will then understand 
why I wanted an effigy in bronze of the Indiana captain, Spencer, 
one of those who died on the battle line within sound of my voice, 
set up conspicuously under the shaft of the memorial pile in In- 
dianapolis known as the soldier's monument. 

The flower of Tecumseh's savage chivalry were at Tippecanoe, 
the town, awaiting Governor Harrison's arrival. There was a 
strong thousand of them. Not a white man was with them, neither 
Briton nor Frenchman. They were all Indian. If they won, what 
horrors awaited the defenseless settler of the Territory? On the 
other hand, if they were beaten — well they were beaten, and con- 
sider the one consequence comprehensive of the rest. Never again 
was there a purely Indian army to offer battle east of the Missis- 
sippi. The survivor — Tecumseh as well — sunk to be despised allies 
of the British. Best of all, however, from that night the way was 
open and made smooth for the coming of the State of Indiana — 
the power, commercial, political, social, manufacturing, within the 
definition with which I set out. 

Indiana is my native State. I have seen her growth since 1827, 
and words are lacking to express the pride I have in her present 
amplitude of wealth and influence ; yet one of the sweetest satis- 
factions I have springs from the fact that what the feat of arms has 
done, this crowning achievement, this rescue of civilization, this 
final extinguishment of savagery, was a performance in which her 
citizens were principal actors. 




HON. EDGAR D. RANDOLPH. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



85 



ADDRESS OF THE HON. EDGAR D. RANDOLPH. 

(A Memorial Address on the Battle of Tippecanoe, Delivered Sunday, June 

17, 1900.) 



Indiana, one time the domain of Louis the Great of France, over 
whose virgin advances George III wielded the scepter of power, 
whose provincial seat of government has been Quebec, Montreal, 
Detroit, Richmond, Va., New York City, Marietta, Ohio, and Vin- 
cennes, Indiana — Indiana, that one time tolerated slavery, burnt 
witches at the stake ; one time a howling wilderness or uninhabited 
plains, has a unique history. 

When in February, 1779, General Rogers Clark, the Napoleon 
of pioneer days, defeated and captured the English General Hamil- 
ton and his forces at Vincennes, and raised the Stars and Stripes 
for the first time on Indiana soil, Indiana became an American pos- 
session forever. It has ever been the motto of this people that 
wherever that flag has been planted by American bravery and 
blood, it is there to remain; never to be hauled down so long as 
American manhood and patriotism shall endure. 

While Washington fought the Revolutionary battles of the 
East, Clark fought the Revolutionary battles of the West. While 
Washington and his soldiers held possession of the East, Clark and 
tiis little band captured and held possession of the Northwest Ter- 
ritory, now the heart of the nation. It is a question, whether, had 
it not been for those efforts in the West, the Alleghanies would not 
have marked the western boundary of the United States north of 
the Ohio at the close of the Revolution. 

THE INDIAN. 

The Indian has played an important part in the great tragedies 
that have occurred in America ; not only did he stubbornly impede 
the progress of the white man, but his warring qualities on one 
side or the other of national contests, on this continent, has fur- 
nished the balance of power that has decided the fate of nations. 
The Indian has acknowledged allegiance to France, England and 
America; but the title to his abode has ever been a question of 
dispute, whether that title was acquired by treaty, rum or money ; 
and it was seldom quieted except by conflict. 



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Books have been written and theories advanced, how the con- 
flicts with the red man might have been avoided. We judge the 
motive by the act; we judge the act by the result. It was a con- 
dition, not a theory, that confronted the pioneer and the red man. 
Man, civilized or barbarian, Christian or heathen, is a selfish being. 
Back of all deeds and doings there is an ego which furnished the 
spirit of the action, and to be benefited by the result. 

As the individual, so the nation; men or nations who claim 
possession of the same territory do not long remain friends. Thus 
it was a question of possession between the white man and the In- 
dian, and the only court of final decision was the battle-field, where 
the doctrine of the survival of the fittest finds its proof. 

THE SAXON. 

It has been the history of the Saxon race to either exterminate 
or assimilate whatever race of people came in the line of Saxon 
progress. That same spirit which made Britain English, made 
America free, and made the hunting ground of the Indian the 
paradise of man. Onward, ever onward, conquering but never con- 
quered, has been the motto of the Saxon race since their rude ships 
sought the shore of Britain. Other nations and peoples have come 
and gone, but the Saxon nations still progress, as if their destiny 
was to either exterminate or assimilate all other peoples and nations. 
That same Saxon blood met the red man on the shores of the At- 
lantic and the history of the red .man's long and weary attempt to 
arrest the Saxon advance is a strange and sad story. But the 
Saxon must and did advance, and the Indian would not be assimi- 
lated, hence he must be exterminated, and was exterminated. Today 
only a small number of Indians remain to submit to the last test as 
to whether they shall be assimilated or exterminated. Thus the 
conflict begun on the Atlantic, was hard and cruelly fought, back 
over the Alleghanies, down through the southland and up through 
the northland to the Mississippi, on the plains, up and down the 
Rockies to the Pacific, the Saxon still possessing and persisting, 
while the Indian exists only in memory. The years that intervened 
from the beginning to the end of that contest are replete with 
trials, cruelties and sorrows that cannot be described. That the 
Indian was mistreated at times, none will deny, but that he was 
barbarous, treacherous and cruel, all must admit. The poisoned ar- 
row, the cruel tomahawk, the merciless scalping knife, the midnight 
massacre, and the burning stake, a lonely cabin attack, a husband 



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87 



and father murdered, wife and children stolen, never to see home 
or dear ones again, these but meagerly tell us of the untenable 
cruelties and sorrows, trials and fears of the pioneer. 

It has been said "The most ultimately righteous of all wars is a 
war with savages, though it is apt to be the most terrible and in- 
human." The rude pioneer settler, who drove the savage from this 
land has made this cilvilization and this people his everlasting 
debtor. 

THE PIONEER. 

Necessity was the pioneer's master; he fought, labored and 
lived from necessity. In his day each home was a fort, each door- 
yard a palisade, and every man a warrior ; each individual was his 
own arbiter of right and redresser of wrongs ; the log cabin his 
mansion, the log-rolling his theater, the corn-shucking his social 
gathering, and the trip to mill his outing : Composed of all classes 
speaking various languages and representing all Christian reli- 
gions, creeds and beliefs. 

As their settlements enlarged they extended their borders and 
the red man would again renew his outrages. They related their 
griefs to each other and each in return would receive the other's 
sympathy. By association they learned to love and cherish each 
other ; necessity taught them to assist each other, and mutual dan- 
gers, threatened by a mutual foe, pledged them to support a com- 
mon cause. 

Theirs was a time of hardships and glorious efforts in the face 
of daily disappointment, embitterments and rebuffs. The motto of 
the pioneer of the Northwest was, "He planted a better than the 
fallen." This motto the pioneer fulfilled. He drove out the savage 
and established a civilization; transformed the wildernesses and 
made them blossom like the rose. 

TECUMSEH AND THE PROPHET. 

In 1768 and 1771, respectively, were born two Indian boys, on 
the Mad River, in Clark County, Ohio, who were to play an im- 
portant part in the history of Indiana and the nation. These two 
boys were born enemies of the white man ; Tecumseh, the older, be- 
came a man of great power. He was a great orator, a great states- 
man, a great warrior, brave, daring, and artful, a Shawnee by birth, 
a relentless and powerful leader of men. The Prophet, Tecumseh's 
brother, was a medicine-man, lazy, licentious and superstitious, who 



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burned even those of his own people at the stake who would not 
subscribe to his doctrine ; a white man hater and an Indian deceiver, 
a disturber of men by trade and a demagogue by profession, cruel, 
artful and treacherous. 

These two brothers, in the year 1808, established themselves 
with the Kickapoos and the Potawatomies, with headquarters at 
Prophet's Town, which town was located near the junction of the 
Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers, about a mile east of the Battle 
Ground in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Not natives of the Ter- 
ritory, neither of these boys ever owned a foot of Indiana soil either 
by gift, devise, adverse possession or conquest. They were a unique 
combination, each the complement of the other. When one would 
fail in his art, the other would apply his, and thus accomplish the 
object in view. Thus these two landless, tribeless brothers soon built 
themselves a strong following among the tribes of the Wabash, the 
most of whom they won to their belief. The Prophet performed 
miracles and superstitions on their followers, and Tecumseh de- 
claimed upon all occasions, pleasing ideals long before set forth and 
attempted by Pontiac, Little Turtle and others of establishing one 
great confederacy of tribes, and thereby stop the further advances 
of the western pioneer. 

Notwithstanding the great historic fact, the occupants of the 
Indiana territory had long since acknowledged allegiance to France 
and England and had taken part in their wars and surrenders, and 
thereby surrendered their title by conquest, yet nevertheless this 
shrewd, brilliant, ambitious, revengeful Tecumseh taught the doc- 
trine that all treaties made were not binding. That one tribe could 
not sell without the consent of all. He argued that with the con- 
federacy established they could defeat all further advance of the 
white man. His arguments were accepted by many and the effect 
of his influence was soon felt by the pioneer ; soon depredations oc- 
curred along the frontier; people were murdered, houses robbed 
and burned, horses stolen, and the advance line of civilization was 
disturbed both by fear and deed. Tecumseh was not without aiders 
and abettors in his sworn vengeance on the pioneer ; these pioneers 
were American citizens. England still held her forts on the lake and 
at Detroit, and smarting from defeat in the Revolution, and anxious 
to do anything to vex and harrass the Americans, was a most willing 
counsel and adviser with Tecumseh. How many of Tecumseh's 
arguments and theories originated in English brains will never be 
known, but that they assisted him, the British muskets and muni- 
tions of war discovered at Prophets Town when the same was de- 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



89 



strojed after the battle, and the subsequent acts of Tecumseh and 
the Indians at Detroit and at the battle of the Thames, verify. The 
plot grows more intense and interesting, for while English sailors 
oppressed American citizens on the seas, England counseled, in- 
cited and encouraged her allies, the red man, to oppress and mur- 
der American citizens on land. 

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 

Indian depredations continued, and on the 31st day of July, 
1811, a public meeting was held at Vincennes, and the government 
was petitioned for military protection. There was at that time the 
Governor of Indiana Territory and commander-in-chief of its mili- 
tary forces, a Virginian by birth, an honest man, a brave man, a 
general. To this man was given the responsibility to protect and 
defend the citizens of Indiana Territory against the red man's out- 
rages and cruelties. Harrison performed his duty with great diplo- 
macy and humanity. He sent letters to Tecumseh telling him of 
the blessings of peace and the results of war. Councils were had 
between Harrison and Tecumseh ; arguments were used until rea- 
son and persuasion had spent their force, but all in vain. Tecum- 
seh, ever artful and treacherous, was still dreaming of his confed- 
eracy, from whose gigantic form he might mete his sworn vengeance 
upon the white man, the American pioneer. His treaties ever prom- 
ised, were never made. Yet his confederacy schemes were fast being 
consummated. He ordered one vast council and goes south to in- 
sure its success. The time for some definite accomplishment had 
arrived, and the little pioneer army, nine hundred strong, marched 
out beyond civilization, into the rough and rugged wilds of the 
Wabash, over high grass prairies, to Prophets Town, near the junc- 
tion of the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers, where there was none to 
lend assistance, cheer or comfort, where victory meant suffering and 
privation, and where defeat meant a cruel and torturous death. 

BATTLE. 

It is November 6, 1811, a little army is encamped, the campfires 
are burning, the evening meal prepared, the orders to sleep on arms 
are given, the fires are extinguished, the soldiers, tired and weary 
from the long and fatiguing march, sleep. It is midnight — the last 
council is assembled in the old Prophets Town, a small distance to 
the east — the Prophet tells his warriors that he has invoked the aid 
of the Great Spirit. He promises harmless bullets and a sure vie- 



90 



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tory ; a massacre is planned and the warriors disperse to assume 
their respective places in the barbarous tragedy. The little pioneer 
army is surrounded, but the soldiers sleep their death-like sleep ; 
unconscious of the dangers that are about them. It is four o'clock, 
November 7, 1811, a sentinel is attacked and fires a signal gun — 
the soldiers fall in, and the battle lines are formed, and a fight to 
death is begun between the savage and the civilized. Danger and 
death are on all sides, but the little pioneer army stands bravely 
its ground; though the savage yells fill the air, and the poisoned 
bullets pierce the hearts of comrades, yet they stand and bravely 
hold the lines, and then the dawn of November 7, 1811, breaks upon 
those heroes, living and dead, and reveals a victory, and the first 
battle of the second war with England is won. The warriors of 
Tecumseh are vanquished — Prophets Town is deserted forever — the 
great Indian confederacy has vanished in the smoke of that battle. 
Indian depredations in the Northwest are ended — Indiana is free, 
and the war of 1812 is begun. Then that little pioneer army, bleed- 
ing and torn, marched back, but not the nine hundred, for many 
were dying and thirty-seven brave men had fought their last fight — 
they were camping forever on the old camp-ground. Thirty-five 
dead, buried on this then lonely battle-field, far beyond the pale 
of civilization, where dear ones could not visit, nor sweet flowers pay 
respect. Buried alone, unshrouded, whose bones were to be dug up, 
and scattered to bleach upon the battle-field where they died; to 
bleach for years, until the advanced settler discovered those sacred 
bones and placed them in the tomb. They fought; they died, that 
civilization might advance, that we might enjoy this land in hap- 
piness and peace. Those heroes are gone ; we can not recall them, 
but they have left us the place and the history of their deeds. They 
are long since dead, yet they still live in the hearts of this grateful 
people, and we are here today to bestow our annual tokens of love 
for what those brave men were, and respect for what they did for us. 

INDIANA. 

When the Battle of Tippecanoe was fought the population of 
Indiana did not exceed six thousand, scattered here and there along 
the Ohio and Wabash rivers — pioneers, whose extreme advance on 
any line was marked by grim necessity . 

When the news of the victory of Tippecanoe was heard, then 
began the advance of the settler. The covered wagons soon ap- 
peared in all parts. Scarcely had the smoke of that battle cleared 



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91 



away, when there was heard through this land the whack of the 
woodman's axe, and the plowman's voice. Soon that vast, vacant 
wilderness was changed. Villages, towns and cities sprang up as 
if by magic, and the grand distinction of this day is the recognition 
of the rights of man and the diffusion of the means of improvement 
and happiness. Instead of fortifications, institutions are erected in 
which to teach the youth the love of justice and the blessings of 
peace. Almshouses to alleviate the suffering of the poverty-striken, 
hospitals in Christian mercy to the unfortunate, and for the na- 
tion's defense, beautiful and comfortable homes are erected for the 
heroes of the nation. 

Today Indiana has more than two millions of free people, whose 
ideas, joys and sorrows are in close contact, and made common by 
the touch of the electric wire or the telephone, whose lands are fer- 
tile, whose hills and plains are replete with riches, whose valleys 
laugh with gladness, and whose rills and streams flow with a peace- 
ful ripple. 

Such a people in such a land ought never to forget the debt of 
gratitude they owe to the heroes of the Battle of Tippecanoe. 

May the time soon come when this great State shall take a little 
of her abundance and erect on this battle-field a monument upon 
which may be chiseled the names of the heroes who participated 
in that memorable struggle : A monument both to the living and to 
the dead, that in the days to come shall be an inspiration for the 
living and a due remembrance for the dead. 



i 




HON. HENRY WATTERSON. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 
ADDRESS BY THE HON. HENRY WATTERSON. 

(Tippecanoe Battle-field Memorial, June 15, 1902.) 



Traveling from out the twilight of the past into the radiance 
of the present, and tracing as we go the history of the country 
along the glorious but rugged route of battle-fields, by the glare of 
fagot flame and rifle flash, it seems ages since Harrison and his 
hunting-shirts met and vanquished the hordes of the two Tecum- 
sehs ; yet, are there men living, and here today, who, if they were 
not contemporary with the event and its valiants, can distinctly 
recall the spirit of those times, the aspects, the very familiar fea- 
tures, of those valiants; the atmosphere, the form and body of an 
epoch when from Faneuil Hall in Boston, from Raleigh Tavern in 
Virginia, to Fort Wayne and Old Vincennes upon the confines of 
this borderland, the redskin and the redcoat alike, stirred to its 
depths the heart of the young republic. There were giants in those 
days ; and there was need that there should be. No vestibuled 
trains nor palace coaches awaited to fetch them thither ; no noisy 
procession, with banners waving and brass bands playing, marched 
forth to honor their arrival. They journeyed for the most part 
afoot. They picked their way through trackless canebrake and 
wooded waste, across swift-running, bridgeless streams, their flint- 
locks their commissariat. 

They had quitted what they regarded as the overcrowded cen- 
ters of the populous East to seek the lonely, but roomier wilds of the 
far West, keenly alive to the idea of bettering their condition, hav- 
ing a fine sense of pure air and arable land ; it may be for town site ; 
but their hearts beat true to the principles of civil and religious 
liberty, and they brought with them two accoutrements of priceless 
value — the new-made Constitution of their country and the well- 
worn family Bible; for they were God-fearing, Christian soldiers; 
heroes in homespun, as chivalric and undoubting as mailed Knights 
of the Cross ; hating with holy hate the Indians and the British ; 
revering the memory of the patriots and sages who had made the 
Declaration of Independence, warm with the blood of the Revolu- 
tion ; the echoes of Lexington and Bunker Hill, of King's Mountain 
and Yorktown still ringing in their ears. I dare say their descend- 
ants are equally capable of sacrifices. But it is not of ourselves we 
are here to speak. It is to commemorate the slain who lie here and 

fT— 19592] 



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hereabouts ; to keep their deeds and their worth f or long aye, 
green; to confess the debt we owe them; to garland their graves. 
If, in paying this homage from the living to the dead, we rekindle 
within us the spirit of the dead, we shall, with each annual recur- 
rence of the day, the surer approve our coming and grow better as 
we come. 

Our lot has been cast in easier times, has been laid on broader, 
larger lines. We live in an age of miracles. We gather the fruit 
of the tree which these, our forefathers, planted. From the ashes 
of their camp-fires rise the schoolhouse and the courthouse. The 
church marks the spot where the blockhouse stood. The war-whoop 
of the savage is succeeded by the neigh of the iron horse ; the gleam 
of the tomahawk by the flare of the electric light. Danger of the 
kind that was their daily, hourly companion is to us unknown. 
Privation such as they sustained assails not honest toil, however 
humble. Wealth and luxury wait attendant upon thrift and skill. 
Primogeniture no longer cheats merit of its due. Entail no longer 
usurps the present and puts its mortgage on the future. Oppor- 
tunity and peace, order and law are the portion of the poorest. 
Struck by the wizard hand of progress the sleeping beauty, solitude, 
has awakened a metropolis ; touched by the finger of modern in- 
vention, the prairie and the forest, as by enchantment, have re- 
vealed their secrets and poured their riches into the lap of labor. 
Upon the loose cobblestones of what was but a huddle of small 
provinces, each claiming for itself a squalid sovereignty and held 
together by a rope of sand, rises proudly, grandly, securely a 
nation of an indissoluble compact of states, cemented together by 
the blood of a patriotic, brave, homogeneous people. 

The bucolic republic of Washington and Franklin, the sylvan 
idyl of Jefferson- — the government which equally at home and 
abroad had from the first to fight for its existence — is a world 
power ; and, to the present generation of Americans, these things 
have come without any effort of their own; as a rich inheritance, 
and which, for good or evil, they are but beginning to administer 
and enjoy. I pray them well to weigh its responsibilities; deeply 
to ponder the changes wrought by a century of acquisition and de- 
velopment ; prayerfully to consider the exceptional conditions and 
the peculiar perils of the present that vigilance is the price, not. 
alone of liberty, but of all the better ends of life. Ours is a govern- 
ment resting on public opinion. Each man is his own master. He 
can blame nobody but himself if he go astray. Has not the tele- 
graph annihilated time and space? Does not the daily newspaper 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



95 



bring him each day the completed history of yesterday ? Is he not 
able to read, to mark, and, inwardly to digest the signs of the times ? 
With these helps, why should he not be able to reach intelligent and 
just conclusions? 

It is largely true that all men do not think alike. The same 
fact will receive different interpretations from different minds. 
There are conflicts of statement. Even the press is not infallible. 
We group ourselves in parties, and, as with our watches, each be- 
lieves his own. Thus the ship of state is blown hither and yonder, 
by the trade winds of public opinion, yet, somehow, it has sailed 
triumphant; the struggle for freedom; the struggle for union; 
the foreign war; the domestic war; the disputed secession, these 
it has survived ; until at last it has to face the most serious peril 
of all in that excess of grandeur and power which crowns a century 
of marvelous achievement. 

We have become a nation of merchant princes. Money is so 
abundant that men are giving it away in sums of startling magni- 
tude. It seems so easy to get, that men are on system putting it in 
the way of a kind of redistribution back to the sources whence it 
originally came. Shall we see the day when it will no longer cor- 
rupt? If familiarity breeds contempt, we surely shall. The earth's 
surface appears to be but an incrustation over one vast mine of gold 
and silver and precious stones. 

Life is a lottery with more prizes than blanks. But, in a land 
where there are no titles, or patents of nobility, money is bound 
to serve as the standard of measurement ; as precisely as constitu- 
tional government, political and religious freedom, were uppermost 
in the minds and hearts of the pioneers who sleep here, is the acquisi- 
tion of wealth uppermost in the minds and hearts of their sons 
and grandsons. In other words, as I have elsewhere put it, the 
idosyncrasy of the nineteenth century was liberty ; the idosyncrasy 
of the twentieth century is markets. The problem before us, there- 
fore, involves the adjustment of these two; the reconciliation of 
capital and labor, morality and dollars, the concurrent expansion 
of the principles of the constitution and the requirements of com- 
merce. It is of good augury that both our two great parties claim 
the same objective point, and, as I do not doubt that we are on the 
ascending, not the descending, scale of national development, with 
centuries of greatness and glory before us, I shall continue, as is 
my duty, to discuss my own particular horn of dilemma, sure that 
in the end, truth will be vindicated and the flag of our country 
exalted. 



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To these ends, whatever our political belongings and affiliations, 
let each of us here today resolve faithfully to address himself. 
Party spirit, held within the bonds of reason, restrained by good 
sense and good feeling, is an excellent thing. It is of the essence 
of our republican being. I can truly say that I never loved any 
man less because he did not agree with me ; and, though I chide 
him for perversity, I respect his right. The bedrock of civil and 
religious liberty is the law ; the bell-tower of freedom is tolerance. 
The mute inhabitants of these swelling mounds, could they speak, 
would tell us that it were little worth the toil and travail endured 
by them when, amid these greenwood shades they sought and found 
emancipation from ages of feudal wrong, if, overflowing with 
prosperity, bursting with pride, we should forget the lesson and 
dissipate the heritage ; repeating under the pretentious nomencla- 
ture of democracy, the dismal story of Greece and Rome. It can 
never be. We live in the twentieth, not in the first of the centuries. 

Though human nature be never the same, the tale is told by 
human environment, by mortal conditions, and we shall the rather 
go forward than backwards ; the constitution in one hand, the 
Bible in the other hand, the flag over head, carrying to all the lands 
and all the peoples the message alike of civilization and religion, 
the ark and the covenant of American freedom along with the word 
of God. The hunters of Kentucky, the pioneers of Indiana, united 
as brothers in the bonds of liberty, fought the battle of Tippecanoe. 
It was not a great battle as battles go ; but it proved mighty in its 
consequences ; the winning and the peopling of the West ; the 
ultimate rescue of the union from dissolution; the blazing of the 
way to the Pacific. They were simple, hardy men. They set us 
good examples. They loved their country and were loyal to its 
institutions. They were comrades in hearts and comrades in arms. 
Be it ours to bless and preserve their memory and to perpetuate 
their brotherhood. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



97 



ADDRESS BY GEN. JOHN C. BLACK. 

(Tippecanoe Battle-field, June 21, 1903.) 



I was the more easily influenced to accept the invitation ex- 
tended to me to address you on this occasion, not only from the 
fact that the writer of it was a friend of my boyhood and a comrade 
in the days that tried men's souls, but also further from the fact 
that long before the great war had come, as a boy and youth, it had 
been my pleasure to see and hear much of this old battle-ground 
arena. Here I have seen the congregated thousands of Indiana, not 
met to discuss the heroic events of the past, but to discuss the living 
issues of their time. Here I have listened to some of the most elo- 
quent voices that ever gave form to the purpose of the Northwest 
and shaped its career. And long before that it had been mine, as a 
resident of the valley of the Wabash, this land, than which there is 
none fairer or richer under the sun, this valley with its sloping 
hills and cun-crowned heights, of stretching plains that go to meet 
the forest, and forests that decorate nature's fairest form; this 
valley where before man was set in it, the almighty architect and 
lover had stored away all the resources for the comfort and happi- 
ness of men and women — his children ; I say that after becoming a 
resident of this valley it had been mine around the cabin fire of 
those who came immediately after the pioneers, to hear told over 
and over from the lips of participants, in some cases, the story of 
the battle of Tippecanoe. 

And so, when the invitation came from Barney Shaw, I was 
glad to accept it, and I stand before you today, not with word 
of apology, but with word of regret that I am not better prepared 
for the high task for which this majestic audience is assembled. 
What are you here for, my fellow-countrymen? Look all about 
you and see the signs of the profoundest and most prosperous peace, 
the edifices of humanity and the structures of Christian love. But 
these are not the magnet that has drawn you. What are you here 
for? Let all this, for a little time, disappear from your eyes. Go 
back ninety-two years, and then let us see if in their environment 
we can appreciate why this audience is gathered about the graves 
of the silent sleepers in this cemetery. We must do this to under- 
stand why this assemblage. Unless we understand why men fight 
and why they die, war is butchery, and every battle-field an unholy 



Report of Commission. 




GENERAL JOHX C. BLACK. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



99 



hecatomb. Why were these men here ninety-two years ago, far 
from home, to meet a savage foe? And to answer that question 
properly I am going to ask you who are young to listen, and you 
who are older to recall the story of the years preceding 1811. The 
young republic had freed itself from the political domination of 
the mother country, but Great Britain, the majestic power that 
then ruled all the waters of the world, parted reluctantly with her 
prestige, and, although she had signed a treaty which acknowledged 
the independence of the United States of America, at the same time 
in her heart and purpose she held the solemn resolve that if it were 
possible, by guile or force of arms at a later period, to resume her 
empire, that would she do. Our little commerce was just struggling 
into existence, and all of it a commerce of peace. She set her my- 
riad fleets on trackless waves to drive that commerce back to our 
shores and out of existence. We have the testimony of a president 
of the United States, almost a thousand sail. Her pressgangs had 
invaded our territorial jurisdiction, and in the streets of our cities 
had sought out the refugees from her political tyranny. They had 
gone aboard the vessels of the United States at their will and had 
impressed and removed American citizens from those ships and 
taken them to fight her wars. At last, upon the open sea, she had 
assailed the flag of the Union flying at the masthead. Nor was 
this all. 

The great Napoleon, having given to us the empire that now 
comprises so many of our States, looked with reluctance upon the 
majestic departing venture of a greater French empire on the west- 
ern coast, and he, too, longed for the time when Louisiana might 
be restored to the flag of the tricolor. So, between France and Eng- 
land in their titanic European war, the commerce of the United 
States, neither of them fearing her and neither of them respecting 
her, and both of them hating her — the commerce of the United 
States, between the decrees in the council and the edicts of Napo- 
leon, was being shredded to pieces as paper is cut between the strong 
shears of the cutter. Spain, too, still held her southwestern line 
and pushed up to the very banks of the Sabine with her ready allies 
to resume possession in the southern country, if it were possible. An 
empty treasury, and at last the last warship of the government of 
the United States sold at public sale, because the government of the 
United States could no longer pay the men that were to sail it. 
This was the defenseless attitude upon three sides of the Union. All 
up and down the Canadian border were the martial posts of that 
power that boasted even then, Mr. Chairman, that her drum beat was 



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heard around the world and her cannon from Quebec and Montreal 
frowned upon Detroit and all the border of the St. Lawrence. She 
was making friends of the deadliest foe that ever stood in the 
shadow of battle, and wherever her intrigue, her promises, her ca- 
jolements or her bribes could influence the Indian he was being ar- 
rayed against the United States. In the meantime the conspiracy 
of Burr had been stricken down, but left its deep scars upon the 
public mind. The young republic had on the western side of the 
AHeghenies and north of the Ohio River but a single state, and all 
the rest was territory to be fought for and held, or fought for and 
lost. 

So there came into existence at that time, as if an instrument of 
fate, the Indian, Tecumseh, and his superstitious and cunning 
brother. Right here, almost within sound of my voice, they estab- 
lished the headquarters of a savage alliance that was to knit the 
power of Great Britain on the north and Spain on the south with a 
chain of fire and rapine that should extend up and down from the 
Mississippi and hold these American settlements in the bond of the 
tomahawk and the torch. And so 1811 came in the fullness of time. 
How much effect do you suppose the excursion that reached this 
battle-field had upon the public mind? How many of the legisla- 
tors of the United States do you presume at that time knew of the 
existence of this peril, or knowing, cared for it? I find, by ex- 
amination of the public documents that on the 5th of November, 
two days before this engagement was reached, the President of the 
United States, in a serious message to Congress, declared that, ow- 
ing partly to several Indian murders and outrages, and more par- 
ticularly to the formation of a confederation under the lead of a 
fanatic Shawnee Indian, it had been necessary to dispatch an ex- 
pedition toward the northwest. No mention was made of its forces 
or of its purposes, or of its leaders. And into the vast pool of the 
public mind at the capital dropped this little stone of a message 
settling toward the bottom and out of sight. Two days later this 
contest came and seven weeks after that the President of the United 
States addressed another message to Congress in which he spoke in 
most glowing terms of the gallantry that had been displayed on 
this field, and of the losses that had been incurred, bewailing them 
and hoping that the widows and orphans of those men would re- 
ceive the special attention of the public legislature. And this was 
what the Battle of Tippecanoe came to in the contemporary history 
of that time. But to us who look at it in these later days it was a 
greater thing than that, for at the touch of the American soldier 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



101 



on this grassy plain, and under these lofty boughs, the trunks of 
whose trees still display the leaden marks of battle, there was de- 
livered the deadliest blow to this vast conspiracy that embraced the 
cabinets of Europe and the council fires of the Indian that ever was 
administered to a similar coalition upon any battle-field in the world. 

When on the morning of the 7th of November that red host 
that in the night had drawn, with Indian cunning, close up to the 
camps of the sleeping soldiers, was parted and rolled away, all along 
the line of the St. Lawrence fell the gloom. In the councils of the 
southwest, where the Spaniard waited for successful results, there 
was consternation, and the mighty Indian conspiracy against the 
American, which Pontiac fifty years before had initiated, and which 
Tecumseh had almost consummated, disappeared, and with it for- 
ever the last great obstacle of the aborigine to the advent and 
progress of the American citizen. True, there have been other bat- 
tles since, other Indian wars, but this was the most formidable one 
of which American history bears record. Who were the men who 
stood on this battle-field on the defensive? Oh, Mr. Chairman, in 
these later days it is worth our while to remember that the nucleus 
of that mighty force was the regular army of the United States, an 
army that has never raised its hand against the people or the public 
institutions or the sanctity of this republic. (Applause.) And, 
thank God, it never will. (Renewed applause.) In that little bat- 
talion of regulars were gathered the men of Ohio and Kentucky 
and Illinois, all with one single purpose, and in one single brother- 
hood, the great type of the union and power that was, and is, and, 
please God, will be to the end of his records. (Applause.) I wish 
I could picture them to you as they were, the simplest soldiers in 
the line of time, unlettered, untaught in arms, unlearned in the 
schemes of government, yet they knew they were a part and par- 
cel of a mighty people that the Almighty had set them on the fron- 
tiers to keep watch and ward over that people, and that they would 
perform that duty. They were frugal, ununiformed, plain in at- 
tire, insensible to fatigue, watchful as a catamount, resolute as 
men, heroic as martyrs, and they set their homespun shoulders to 
the mighty wheel of civilization. At the command of their govern- 
ment they came up this valley for the purpose of preserving their 
frontier, and they camped here in the security of that November 
night. 

And who were those against them? The original owners of the 
soil is sometimes the answer. Sentiment says "the poor Indian." 
Poesy speaks of him as "the dispossessed lord of the soil." And ro- 



102 



Report of Commission. 



mance pictures the gallant warrior standing with his eagle plumes 
in the sunshine, shouting Ins death cry of defiance against the open 
foe. But that is not the Indian of American history — let us pass 
his faults by — superstitious, ignorant, blood-thirsty, thoughtless, 
cruel in success, merciless in warfare, he claimed the land and in- 
tended to hold it by force of arms. What title had he? Long ago 
He who created man and put him on this goodly earth, said "The 
earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof," and he or she who holds 
a title to the freehold, holds it in trust from the Almighty, for the 
good of the human race. (Applause.) The Indian's claim was 
that this mighty continent, the most fertile in the world, whose 
springs gush with the richness of Pacolus, whose forests are filled 
with resources and plenty for the race, whose untilled fields had 
been storing away for millions of years the bread and corn and 
wine that was to sustain tins people ; the Indian said that this vast 
hemisphere was for his "hunting ground." And there were 400,000 
of them, and they proposed to hold that land to the exclusion of 
those who have come after, and who today, one hundred million 
strong between the gulf and the poles, are occupying the land in 
peace and plenty. The Indian proposed that his warpath should 
be forever a dividing line between savagery and civilization, that 
no locomotive, that no emigrant wagon, that no lone pioneer should 
ever cross it on the journey toward the west, or toward comfort. 
The Indian proposed that his tepee should stand where today the 
cities that hold millions of laborers, and thinkers and lovers of their 
kind are reared, and there have been those who, upon such claims 
have justified the resistance that was made here, and the attack that 
was made here by the Indians under Tecumseh. 

But in the sober light of reason, all such theorizings and de- 
fenses are idle as the wind. The men who were here from Ohio and 
Indiana and Kentucky, and from the Union, were here in the high 
purpose of preserving that Union, preserving these frontier set- 
tlements from the scalping knife and the torch, and making peace 

reign throughout the borders of a great State and the vast ter- 
ra & & 

ritory that lay near it. And they succeeded, my countrymen. (Ap- 
plause.) On other occasions you have doubtless heard from 
other orators the story of this contest. It is not mine to give it 
in detail. The marks upon the trees here tell us where the contest 
raged. The pages of history devoted to the annals of this spot 
tell the number that were sacrificed, the grandeur of the assault, 
and the heroism of the defense. They tell you how the chieftain 
led the attack, and afterward as his lines were closed in upon by 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



103 



the savage foe, baring his breast beside his plainest comrades to 
the stroke of battle and death. The records show that in this en- 
closure 188 of the sons and fathers of the settlers were killed or 
wounded, to break the mighty coalition of savagery and feudalism. 
Yonder Jo Daviess fell, the highest single sacrifice of all the trou- 
blous Indian wars. For when he fell a lawyer, poet, orator, mighty 
advocate, true patriot, was laid to rest. Here also Spier Spencer 
fell, and although his name has been perpetuated, he was a costly 
sacrifice upon this battle-field, and back from this raging point 
through all the great region which they saved the messengers of 
victory were also the messengers of loss and individual mourning. 
It was through the scattered homes of the Wabash and the Ohio, the 
death angel passing touched the foremost ones, and mouring came 
upon the bereaved homes. But it was well that they then and there 
laid down their lives. For 

Whether on the scaffold high, 

Or in the battle's van; 
The noblest place for man to die, 

Is where he dies for man. 

And that is what each and every one of these men who fell here 
did. They died that a great republic might live ; that its enemies 
might be destroyed, and that way might be made for the feet of the 
emigrant into and across this mighty and fertile land of ours. And 
after these ninety-two years we can look back and thank God that 
it is our privilege to stand here, and it is your high privilege, citi- 
zens of this county, to shelter here this shrine and mausoleum. That 
battle had to be fought somewhere; that savage combination had 
to be broken somewhere, and it is well for us that we are able to 
stand in the midst of those scenes, and sacrifices and triumphs. 

We, my gray companions and comrades, have been accustomed 
to stories of battles. Many of us have passed over the borders of 
the greatest battle-fields of all time. We have seen the hosts of 
right and wrong engaged in conflicts that have shaken the earth ; 
that have destroy ed intrenched wrong ; that have changed the dyn- 
asties of the world. As we look back through the mists of ninety- 
two years to this spot and remember that only a few men fell here, 
and that all the forces engaged in both sides were fewer than two 
of the stalwart regiments Indiana sent out to maintain the flag from 
1861 to 1865, this apparently diminishes the value and majesty of 
the action. But the thoughtful man knows that great victories are 
not always measured by the numbers of men who are engaged. 



104< 



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I remember that in Roman history the brightest single exploit 
of the early days was when Horatius stood at the bridge and asked 
for two strong men to keep the bridge with him against the Sabine 
array, and from that time to this his name has been typical of all 
that the Romans did, and all that valor could accomplish. I re- 
member that history says that three hundred men stood in the pass 
of a small mountain and bade defiance to the barbaric hordes of 
Asia and died, and only a messenger remained, but in their deaths 
they made Thermopylae immortal and rescued the civilization of 
Europe from the domination of wrong. I remember that in the his- 
tory of the United States in the far southwest a lonely church pul- 
pit on the borders of a Texas town became the citadel where Ameri- 
can valor under Crockett and Bowie and their compatriots set 
themselves against the barbarism of Mexico and died to a man and 
made their names immortal and gave the great southwest to the 
American flag and American purposes, kindling a flame that reached 
the Atlantic, and ceased not to burn until the Rio Grande had been 
crossed by the barbarian and the borders of the republic were set 
upon natural lines in the southwest, and yet those that struggled in 
the Alamo were not half as many as those who struggled here. 

I remember that when the British forces marched out from Bos- 
ton to engage the farmers of New England they who stood against 
that force were fewer in numbers by far than those who struggled 
here under Harrison, and yet they fired the shot that not has only 
been heard around the world, but that has been felt in the bosom 
and purposes of mankind wherever man is known and carries out 
his high destiny. I remember that when the mighty hosts of the 
rebellion had been drawn from all the resources of the south and 
stood massed against the armies of the Tennessee and the Cumber- 
land and the Ohio and in the Atlanta campaign, and that which fol- 
lowed, that there came a time when the holding of Altoona pass 
meant success or the prolongation of disastrous continued war, and 
I remember how all day long back and forward by those low yel- 
low walls and those slender defenses the strength and core of the 
rebellion surged, until every man within the heroic defense was 
either almost dead or dying, and lay down at last in victory under a 
triumphant flag. (Applause.) And yet the men that held Altoona 
pass with all its consequences were scarcely more than those who 
waged this battle here. Had Harrison failed here and Tecumseh 
succeeded there would have been no mourning along the St. Law- 
rence and no bitter withdrawal to the Rio Grande, but instead, 
pushing forward to the very foot of the Alleghenies the uprising 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



105 



power of Great Britain would have helped to choke and destroy the 
infant republic that she hated. I think a great deal of Great Brit- 
ain now. I think that, humbled and chastened as she was during 
two wars, she is a great big mother to be proud of. (Applause.) 
But in those days, under her guns and under her flag, were all 
cruelties and all feudalism, and all oppresions of liberty, and all 
retroaction. Under her flag was the throne ; back of the throne 
the pressgang, and the battleships loaded with thunder for Ameri- 
can commerce. Back of her throne was every retroaction that con- 
demned democracy and the great republic that was to be, and when 
her allies fell on this field her plans for the control of the North 
American continent were dispelled, and forever. The longer I live 
the more thoroughly convinced I become that there are no mistakes 
in the lives of great nations ; that the purposes of the Almighty, 
obscured though they may be temporarily, still go on and on 
through seeming disaster and seeming victories, and that either by 
the great or the small, with the host or the detachment, He still ad- 
vances His high plans, and I believe furthermore that this Ameri- 
can people has set before it a destiny and purpose which will not 
be taken from them by the Almighty commander until it is ac- 
complished. 

I believe that the welding blows delivered in favor of our civili- 
zation here have been felt in the added strength of our people from 
that day to this. I believe that from this battle-field as a point 
of sacrifice the American soldier educated by ten thousand humble 
firesides has been strengthened, renewed and refreshed for all the 
contests that belong to his time, and to his race and his govern- 
ment. Look today upon all about us ; a free land, a happy people, 
a splendid and merciful government, correcting its own wrongs and 
punishing its own criminals, and rewarding its own faithful and 
devoted sons and daughters ; a land conserved to humanity, where 
woman is queen of the world — (Applause) — not by virtue of her 
birth, or breeding, or her beauty, but because she is an American 
woman. (Applause.) A land where the little children have opened 
to them every pathway of progress and opportunity ; where wealth 
can not hedge the career of the truly great, nor intrigue destroy 
the strength of the truly patriotic ; a land where manhood can 
win still as it has through 125 years the highest prizes of social and 
political and moral existence; a land whose future seems as bound- 
less and brilliant as the most ardent lover of his kind and his coun- 
try could desire, a land of learning, and law and order and peace, 
not due wholly to this battle-field, but due in that small part which 



106 



Report of Commission. 



belongs to a noble field well fought by sacrificial men, by honest 
men, by unselfish men. Let Indiana, then, here in the time that is 
to come, or let the nation, if such shall better serve the purpose, 
rear a shaft that shall not speak one word of compliment, that shall 
not speak one word of vainglorifying, but shall tell how the Ameri- 
can soldier in the emergency caught the high purposes of his coun- 
try and carried them to success ; set the standard of the country 
upright in the graves of the fallen, and then returned again like the 
teacher of his kind, and the emulated of his country, to his quiet 
home. Let Indiana tell or all the nation tell, not with any closing 
words of praise, the simple story of the 7th of November, 1811. 
(Great applause.) 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



107 



ADDRESS BY THE HON. ALVA O. RESER. 

(Tippecanoe Battle-field Memorial, June 19, 1904.) 



Ladies and Gentlemen — Ninety-three years ago on this spot the 
sentinel, Stephen Mars, fired what was really the first shot in the 
War of 1812. Here was fought the Battle of Tippecanoe — a bat- 
tle of national importance. As Senator Turpie said to me the other 
day, "If all the people interested in that battle would give a dime, 
you could have here one of the grandest monuments in the world." 

Tecumseh was at that time seeking to form a confederation 
among the Indians, with the ostensible purpose of retaining to the 
Indians their hunting grounds. Spain, indignant and malignant, 
because of the Burr Conspiracy and loss of territory, was encour- 
aging the Indians. Napoleon Bonaparte at that time was endeav- 
oring to ride rough shod over Europe, and hoping to dominate the 
world, and by the cession of the Louisiana Territory, and in other 
ways, was trying to bring on war between America and England. 
England, yet smarting under her defeat in the Revolution, was 
impressing American seamen on American ships on the high seas, 
and had her agents at work among the Indians, stirring up discord 
and furnishing them arms. Every Indian in that battle was armed 
with a rifle, with a scalping knife, with a tomahawk, and most of 
them with a spear. The white men were armed only with rifles. 
Most of the arms the Indians had were obtained from the English. 
General Harrison and his men were fighting to preserve their homes. 

The greatest battle ever fought on the soil of the present State 
of Indiana, was the Battle of Tippecanoe. This battle was fought 
largely by Indiana people. In General Harrison's army there were 
two hundred and fifty regulars, sixty Kentuckians, and six hundred 
Indiana men. In this battle, thirty-seven were killed, one hundred 
and fifty-one wounded, of which fifteen afterwards died. The his- 
tory of the march and the battle have been told on this platform 
many times, and I shall not weary you with a repetition. I shall 
not take up the time to tell you about Harrison's march from Vin- 
cennes, about the battle in the early morning of November 7, 1811, 
about the Prophet and his magic bowl and beads, of the gallant con- 
duct of that little army, of the victory, of the burning of the 
Prophet's town ; or the return to Fort Harrison. That is history 
familiar to you all. We are here today to honor the memories of 
these heroes. Their gallant deeds were recognized by President 



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HON. ALVA O. RESER. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



109 



Madison in a message to Congress on the 18th of December, 1811. 
It was recognized by resolutions passed by the legislature of Indi- 
ana Territory, of Kentucky and of the Territory of Illinois. It 
became the unwritten law of the State of Indiana, in after years 
when new counties were organized, that they should be named after 
some hero who fought at this battle. 

Tippecanoe County is rich in its history. In 1719, nearly one 
hundred years before the Battle of Tippecanoe, there was formed 
three and one-half miles south of Lafayette, by the French, a post 
called Fort Ouiatenon, and this was the first white settlement in the 
State of Indiana, antedating the settlement at Vincennes almost 
a decade. Afterwards the English captured this post from the 
French and finally, in the Pontiac conspiracy, about 1761s that 
old fort was captured from the English by the Indians. Ouiatenon 
means "Wea Town." At the time the Indians captured this post 
at Ouiatenon from the English, there were three French Canadian 
traders outside of the post. These French traders persuaded the 
Indians to release the sergeant, and two or three of the English 
soldiers who had been captured. The French traders then went up 
along the Wabash to a point just east of the village of Battle 
Ground, on property now owned by Mrs. Fisher, and established a 
trading post there. I took a walk the other evening out to where 
the trading post was. It is marked by a stone, a haw tree, and the 
stump of an old apple tree. Many of the old citizens of this com- 
munity remember the old chimney that stood for many years where 
that trading post was. In the early days the Weas had a village 
here. Here it was the Prophet came and established the "Prophet's 
Town," so familiar in history. The Prophet's Town probably ex- 
tended for several miles along the Wabash and the Tippecanoe. 
Senator Turpie tells me that in his early boyhood, he found burned 
sticks on the high grounds along the Tippecanoe. John Graves 
tells me he found burned corn there, which was probably burned by 
Harrison on the morning after the battle. 

It was well that this battle was fought here when it was. The 
defeat of the Indians here broke up the designs of Tecumseh, and 
if the battle had not been fought, and the designs of Tecumseh 
had been fully carried out, it might have jeopardized the success of 
the Americans in the War of 1812. Tecumseh is considered by 
many to have been the greatest Indian that ever lived, with the 
possible exception of Little Turtle, the Miami chief. When en- 
engaged in war he allowed no murder of prisoners, no violence 
against women or children. He conducted his campaigns according 

[8—19592] 



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GENERAL JOHN TIPTON. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



Ill 



to the rules of civilized warfare, in so far as an Indian chief, com- 
manding Indian warriors, could. He was something of an orator. 
In the Vincennes conference with Harrison, when he was offered a 
chair, Tecumseh said haughtily, "The sun is my father, the earth 
is my mother, and I will recline on her bosom," and he sat down on 
the ground. He said further to Harrison, "Your women and chil- 
dren are safe. My warriors are against your men." Tecumseh 
was killed at the Battle of the Thames, a few miles from Detroit, 
on October 15, 1813. At that battle General Harrison was Com- 
mander-in-chief of the Western army. Tecumseh said the Thames 
reminded him of the Wabash. Richard Johnson, of Kentucky , was 
elected Vice-President of the United States, along with Van Buren, 
largely because of the fact that he claimed to have killed Tecumseh. 

The Indians were very superstitious. At one time the Prophet 
learned from some white men there was to be an eclipse. With 
great ceremony he proclaimed to the Indians this fact. When the 
eclipse came he said to them in a loud voice, "Behold my prophecy 
has come true. The sun is shrouded in darkness." Tecumseh was 
down in Mississippi when the Battle of Tippecanoe was fought. 
He told the Indians of Mississippi that when he got back to Indiana 
they would hear something and they must march to Indiana. Along 
in 1811 there was an earthquake in the Mississippi Valley. These 
Indians when they were visited by the earthquake, thought this was 
the warning Tecumseh was to give them, and started north and got 
as far as Tennessee when they learned of the Battle of Tippecanoe. 

The Indians claimed the land because they were here first. At 
the time of the Battle of Tippecanoe it is said there were one hun- 
dred and eighty thousand Indians between the Atlantic Ocean and 
the Mississippi River. That would be thirty-eight hundred and 
forty acres of land for each man, or over nineteen thousand acres 
for each Indian family. The Indian claimed that this land, which 
today between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River, sup- 
ports fifty millions of people, with its schools, and churches, and 
railroads, and manufactures, should be forever maintained as his 
hunting ground. I do not believe this claim can be justified. Gen- 
eral Harrison burned logs over the graves of those who fell at this 
battle, but the Indians unearthed the remains. General Harrison 
visited this spot in 1836. 

I once heard Henry Ward Beecher say that families travel in 
circles, oftentimes the father traveling up one side, and the son 
down the other. I remember that of the students who attended Pur- 
due University with me a quarter of a century ago, those who 



112 



Report of Commission. 



seemed to have the best opportunities in life, in many cases have 
been outstripped in the world's broad field of battle, by those who 
did not seem to have any opportunities at all. The Harrison family 
has been an anomalous one in that respect. The father of William 
Henry Harrison was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, 
and there were two presidents from that family in the short space 
of fifty years. It was claimed by some that General Harrison was 
surprised by the Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe. The internal 
evidence satisfies me that he took all precautions. In the first place 
he had fought with Mad Anthony Wayne, the man whom Little 
Turtle described as "the man who never sleeps" ; he was in sight 
of a hostile Indian village, whose chief had refused to talk to his 
interpreter, and his little army was in camp on ground selected 
by the Indians for them. Surely any commander under such cir- 
cumstances would have been on the alert, and especially one who so 
thoroughly understood Indiana warfare. I have a letter from J. S. 
Pfrimmer, of Corydon, Indiana, whose father was in this battle. He 
says, "My father often told me he had a messmate by the name of 
Bayard. On the evening before the battle Bayard said to my fa- 
ther, 'Sam, sleep with your moccasins on, for them red devils are 
going to fight before day.' When the fighting began, Bayard 
says, 'Sam, there they are !' " 

Outside of General Harrison, who was only temporarily in In- 
diana, and George Rogers Clark of an earlier day, Gen. John Tip- 
ton impressed himself more upon the early history of Indiana than 
any other man. Captain Spencer's company occupied the point at 
the south end of the battle-field. When Spencer fell and his first 
lieutenant fell, Tipton, who was an ensign, took charge of the com- 
pany. General Harrison rode down to the point and said to the 
young ensign, "Where is your captain?" "Dead, sir," replied the 
young ensign. "Where is your lieutenant?" "He is also dead, sir." 
"Who is in command of this company ?" "I am, sir," replied the 
young ensign. "Hold your own, my brave boy," said General Har- 
rison, "and I will send you reinforcements." After the battle Gen- 
eral Tipton served in the legislature, and it was largely through 
his influence that so many counties in the State of Indiana were 
named after men who fought here. Tipton became an Indian 
agent. In 1829 he rode all night on horseback from Logansport to 
Crawfordsville, where he bought the land on which the battle was 
fought. In 1831 Tipton became United States Senator. The home 
of Tipton was in Logansport. I visited his grave three weeks ago, 
and on the tombstone is the f oil owing simple inscription : 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



113 



GENERAL JOHN TIPTON. 
Died April 5, 1839; Age 53 years. 

On December 28, 1833, the following joint resolution was 
passed by the Indiana legislature : 

Whereas, Immemorial usage has sanctioned the custom of perpetuating 
the memories of departed heroes and patriots by monumental honors; and, 

Whereas, The land on which was fought the memorable Battle of Tippe- 
canoe, in 1811, contains the bones of many a brave man and pure patriot, 
whose sacred relics the State of Indiana is bound, by every consideration of the 
honor to herself and respectful and decent regard for their memories, to pre- 
serve them from the rude hand of the disturber; and, 

Whereas, That consecrated spot is the property of an individual who 
shared in the dangers and honors of that battle, and who, it is believed, is 
awaiting only a respectful request from the State for an opportunity of ceding 
or selling at a normal price the land on which the battle was fought, or so 
much thereof as has been set apart as a repository or burying place of those 
who fell in the engagement. The legislature, feeling that it is the duty to the 
memories of the dead, as well as the feelings of their friends and relatives who 
survive them, and to the character of the State, that a cession shall be pro- 
cured, or purchase made of the battle-ground, do adopt, for the purpose of 
carrying into effect the above object, the following joint resolution: 

Resolved, By the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, that the gov- 
ernor be requested, on the part of the State, to procure by cession so much 
land as he may deem necessary to meet the intention of this resolution, and, 
in case a cession cannot be obtained, to ascertain at what price, and under 
what condition, the purchase can be made, and report the same to the next 
legislature. 

In compliance with that resolution on the first day of Novem- 
ber, 1834, seventy years ago, Abel C. Pepper, of Ohio County, 
who was then an Indian agent and who was afterwards a member 
of the Constitutional Convention of 1850, carried a letter from 
Governor Noble to General Tipton at his home in Logansport. I 
read about this letter in the proceedings of the Constitutional Con- 
vention of 1850. I could find no trace of it in the state house. I 
went to Logansport and interviewed Matilda Tipton, the grand- 
daughter of General Tipton, in her modest home on Broadway 
street. She searched for it among the General's papers, and at the 
bottom of his box, neatly folded and tied with a faded red tape, was 
the letter of Governor Noble, and a copy of the answer of General 
Tipton, in his own handwriting, by which he agreed to transfer the 
grounds on which the Battle of Tippecanoe was fought to the 
State of Indiana. 

These letters read as follows : 



114 Report of Commission. 



M- fa M^Xpm 



e^Y^ fj*** fV Qr ^f^ t ^ ^ 

(iox- i, ». jy&jr v-^torl -pv ^ (IZ k** 1 *^ tU^t 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



115 



[Indianapolis, Nov. 1st, 1834 

The Hon John Tipton 
Sir. 

The last Legislature of our State, by a Joint Resolution, made it the duty 
of the Governor to ascertain the terms, upon which, you would surrender the 
ground, on which was fought, the Memorable Battle of Tippecanoe With the 
events of that struggle honorable mention has been frequently made of your 
name, of yOur fellow officers and soldiers who survived it by the brave General 
who commanded, as well as of those who were slain; and knowing your high 
estimate of the courage and private virtues of your companions who fell and 
whose remains render that a sacred spot, I need say but little to induce you 
to appreciate the motive which prompts the measure, that of a just regard for 
tne memory of the lamented dead. Allow me to refer you to the resolution and 
request and answer as early as your convenience will permit. 

I am Sir 

With great esteem, 

Your obt svt 

(Resolution to be found in last volume N. Noble 

of our laws) ] 



116 



Report of Commission. 



14- ^ a^*j&5—&/>„jL Ms/ Iter JXt4-**6, 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



117 



[Falls of the Wabash 7th Nov 1834 

His Excy N Noble 
Sir 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the first of 
this month informing me that by a resolution of the last Legislature it was 
made the duty of the Governor to ascertain upon what terms I would sur- 
render to the state the ground upon which was fought the memorable battle of 
Tippecanoe, and in reply I have to inform you that in purchascing the battle 
ground I was actuated by no other motive than that of possessing it in order 
to preserve the bones of my companions in arms who fell there, and that it 
will afford me great pleasure to convey the battleground to the state of Indi- 
ana, free of any charge, when ever it is signalled to me that the state wishes 
it so conveyed for that purpose.] 

This communication of General Tipton was transmitted to the 
legislature by Governor Noble, and on the 7th day of February, 
1835, the legislature passed a joint resolution resolving among 
other things that : 

''His Excellency be, and he is hereby, authorized to receive from Hon. 
John Tipton a deed of conveyance, in fee simple of the Tippecanoe battle- 
ground, to and in the name of the State of Indiana. 

"That the Governor on receiving the conveyance aforesaid, shall, by him- 
self, or a proper sub-agent to be by him appointed, take charge of the said 
battle-ground, and, if he shall deem it expedient, have the same enclosed with 
a suitable fence, and that he make report of the proceedings in the premises 
to the next General Assembly, as also his views and opinions relative to the 
erection of a suitable monument or memorial on the said battle-ground." 

Here is an action of the legislature of Indiana seventy years 
ago favoring the erection of a monument on the Tippecanoe battle- 
ground. In accordance with this resolution, John Tipton, and 
Matilda, his wife, on the 7th day of November, 1836, the twenty- 
fifth anniversary of this battle, deeded to the State of Indiana the 
land on which the battle was fought. The deed is recorded in the 
recorder's office of Tippecanoe County. 

On February 4th, 1837, the following joint resolution was 
passed by the legislature : 

"The Governor is hereby further authorized and requested to offer and 
pay a proper premium for a design for a suitable monument hereafter to be 
erected upon the Tippecaoe battle-ground, for the erection and completion of 
which at such time as the legislature may determine, and the finances of the 
State will permit, the faith of the State is hereby plighted." 

Here we find again, nearly seventy years ago, the faith of the 
State plighted to erect a monument on this spot. Governor Noble 
went out of office in 1837, in poor health and died in 1844. John 



118 



Report of Commission. 




GOVERNOR XOAH NOBLE. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



119 



Tipton died in 1839. The monument project was forgotten. The 
grounds were not taken care of. Cattle roamed over the graves of 
the heroes here buried. Vandals chopped down the trees ; and 
finally, the Constitutional Convention of 1850 met, and on Satur- 
day morning, December 21, 1850, John Pettit, who was a member 
of that convention from Tippecanoe County, introduced a resolu- 
tion to incorporate a section into the constitution making it incum- 
bent on the legislature forever afterward to preserve these grounds. 
Mr. Pettit made an eloquent speech on this measure. So did Robert 
Dale Owen and others, and as a result, upon the motion of Mr. 
Bryant, of Warren County, there was incorporated into the Con- 
stitution of this State, Art. 4, Section 10, which reads as follows: 

"It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide for the perma- 
nent enclosure and preservation of the Tippecanoe battle-ground." 

On Saturday, December 28, 1850, Mr. Gregg, a member of the 
Constitutional Convention, offered a resolution to "inquire into the 
expediency of inserting in the new Constitution a section providing 
for the erection of a suitable monument on the Tippecanoe battle- 
ground to commemorate the valor of those who fought, and to per- 
petuate the memories of those who fell upon this bloody battle- 
field. The resolution was not adopted but shows that the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1850 realized that the great State of In- 
diana had been derelict in its duty. 

Senator Turpie tells me that he is sure an appropriation was 
once made by Congress for a monument here, that before the State 
acted, the time expired and the appropriation reverted back to the 
United States treasury. The chief bibliographer of the Congres- 
sional Library writes to Mr. Crumpacker that he can find no record 
of an appropriation having been made by Congress. 

In 1873 an appropriation of $24,000 was made by the legisla- 
ture to build a fence and otherwise take care of the ground. Only 
$18,000 of this money was spent, and $6,000 reverted back to the 
State treasury. In 1887 there was an appropriation of $3,500 
made for painting the fence and other expenditures. There is now 
a permanent appropriation of $300 by the State each year for the 
care of these grounds, to be expended by the couny commissioners 
of Tippecanoe County. 

Mr. Crumpacker has introduced a resolution in Congress, ap- 
propriating $25,000 for the purpose of erecting a monument or 
memorial at the Tippecanoe battle-ground. He writes me that the 
members of Congress from Kentucky have agreed to heartily sup- 



120 



Report of Commission. 



port the measure. He thinks that within the next year or two, if 
not next winter, he will secure the appropriation. He writes me 
in these words, "I have my heart set upon securing the appropria- 
tion for the Tippecanoe monument." As I have said, of so much 
importance was this battle, that it became the unwritten law of the 
State in its early history that when new counties were to be named 
they should be named after men who fought in this battle. 

White County, organized in 1831, was named after Isaac 
White, a Kentuckian, who was killed in the Battle of Tippecanoe. 

Wells County was named after Capt. Wm. H. Wells, who had 
been brought up among the Miami Indians, and who gave the set- 
tlers at Vincennes the first information that the Indians intended to 
attack them. In 1812, Captain Wells was stationed at Fort Dear- 
born, near Chicago, and was induced by the Indians to have a coun- 
cil with them under a flag of truce, and was lured by them into an 
ambush, and Captain Wells and his whole party were massacred. 

Tipton County, of course, was named after John Tipton. In 
an early day he made a speech near Tipton, under an old elm tree, 
and made a treaty with the Indians. They had a great hunt and 
black bear and other wild game were killed and a great feast was 
had. It was in commemoration of this event and the distinguished 
services of Tipton to the State that this county was named after 
him. 

Parke County was named after Capt. Benjamin Parke, who 
fought in the Battle of Tippecanoe. He was afterwards a member 
of Congress from the Territory of Indiana, and was the first United 
States judge for the District of Indiana. In the latter part of his 
life he became financially embarrassed, and unhesitatingly gave up 
all his property for the benefit of his creditors. So completely did 
he deny himself that the family at their meals drank from tin cups. 
The wife of Captain Parke was named Betsey, and she was held in 
such high esteem that more baby daughters were named after her 
than after any other lady in southern Indiana. Chas. Lasselle, of 
Logansport, has a soup bowl given to Lasselle's mother by Captain 
Parke after his return from the Battle of Tippecanoe, and which he 
got at the Prophet's Town the day after the battle. It is as large as 
a punch bowl, and was scraped out of the heart of an old oak tree 
by the Indian squaws. It is an interesting relic, and if a memorial 
hall is ever established here, this old soup bowl should be in it. 

Bartholomew County was named after Joseph Bartholomew, 
who commanded the infantry at the Battle of Tippecanoe. He was 
a descendant of a Puritan family. He was formerly a citizen of 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



121 




GENERAL JOSEPH BARTHOLOMEW. 



122 



Report of Commission. 



Clark County. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Tippe- 
canoe. He was a member of the legislature in 1821 and 1824. In 
January, 1821, a new county was formed out of Delaware County, 
and it was named Bartholomew County, on motion of General Tip- 
ton. There is a portrait of General Bartholomew in the court house 
at Columbus. He died in 1840. 

Spencer County was named after Spier Spencer, who com- 
manded the company called "The Yellow Jackets," which company 
occupied the ground at the southern point of the battle-field, and 
upon this company fell the brunt of the battle. More men were 
killed in that company than any other. During the battle Captain 
Spencer was wounded. J. S. Pfrimmer, of Cory don, writes me: 
"After Spencer was wounded, he was being carried to the rear by 
my father and comrade, and while in their arms, was struck by a 
ball in the shoulder, which ran lengthwise of his body, and killed 
him outright." In 1842, thirty-one years after the battle, Captain 
Saunderson, of New Albany, organized a military company and 
called it the "Spencer Grays," in honor of Captain Spencer, and 
he and his company made a visit to the widow of Captain Spencer 
at Cory don. 

Daviess County was named after Joseph Hamilton Daviess, a 
brilliant orator and distinguished citizen of Kentucky, who was 
killed at this battle. He had been United States District Attorney, 
and prosecuted Aaron Burr. He once challenged Henry Clay to 
fight a duel. He was at one time Grand Master of the Masonic 
Fraternity of Kentucky. A county in Illinois, a county in Ken- 
tucky, as well as Daviess County, Indiana, were named after this 
man. 

Dubois County was named after Captain Toussant Dubois, who 
was the "Guide to Tippecanoe." He guided the army from Vin- 
cennes to the Prophet's village. He knew the route, as he had been 
a trader, and often traveled from Vincennes to Detroit. He had 
great influence with the early pioneers and with the Indians. When 
General Harrison decided to move against the Indians in 1811, Du- 
bois offered his services. He was captain of the spies and scouts in 
the Tippecanoe campaign. Dubois was the last man to visit the 
headstrong Prophet on the evening before the battle. Jesse Kil- 
gore Dubois, a son of Captain Dubois, became a warm friend of 
Abraham Lincoln. United States Senator Fred T. Dubois, of 
Idaho, is a grandson of Captain Dubois. On March 11, 1816, 
Captain Dubois attempted to swim the Wabash River, not far from 
Vincennes, on horseback, and was drowned. 




MAJOR JOSEPH H. DAVIESS. 



Report of Commission. 



Flo3^d County is by some supposed to have been named after 
John Floyd, a surveyor. By others, it is claimed the county was 
named after Davis Floyd, who fought in the battle of Tippecanoe. 
Davis Ployd was an ardent friend of Aaron Burr, and was indicted 
with him for treason, but when Burr was acquitted, the prosecution 
against Floyd was abandoned. He was an adjutant in the Battle 
of Tippecanoe, and was a member of the general assembly of the 
Territory. His estate was settled in Harrison County. He was 
admitted to the bar in Clarke County in 1817. In the early days 
he had been a pilot on the Ohio River. 

Warrick County was named after Jacob Warrick, who fell at 
the Battle of Tippecanoe. General Harrison speaks of him in his 
report, and said that Warrick was his friend, in whom he had placed 
great confidence, and never found it misplaced. General Harrison 
in his report says : "Warrick was shot immediately through the 
body. On being taken to a surgeon, to have his wound dressed, as 
soon as it was over, being a man of great vigor and able to walk, 
he insisted on going back to the head of his company, although it 
was evident he had but a few hours to live." 

Harrison County was named, of course, after William Henry 
Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe. 

In 1840 great political meetings were held at the Tippecanoe 
battle-ground. This was called the singing campaign. In other 
years great political meetings had been held on this spot. Here 
the little giant, Stephen A. Douglas, has spoken, and in later years, 
Roscoe Conkling, James G. Blaine and others. I give herewith a 
couple of stanzas from two of the old political songs of the singing 
campaign of 1810. 

OLD TIPPECANOE. 

Hurrah for the log cabin chief of our joys; 

For the old Indian fighter, hurrah! 
Hurrah; and from mountain to valley the voice 

Of the people re-echo hurrah ! 

Then come to the ballot box, boys, come along, 

He who never lost battle for you 
Let us down with oppression and tyranny's throng, 

And up with old Tippecanoe. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



125 



TIPPECANOE AND TYLER, TOO. 

Let them talk about hard cider, cider, cider, 

And log cabins, too, 
'Twill only help to speed the ball 

For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, 
For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too — 

Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, 
And with them we'll beat little Van; 

Van, Van, is a used up man, 
And with them we'll beat little Van. 

I believe this feature is a natural part of the history of this 
spot. I believe while we are paying tribute to the heroes buried 
here, it is not improper to resurrect from the mists of the past, 
these old songs that our fathers sang sixty years ago. 

However, on this day, let us solemnly garland the graves of 
these heroic dead. Let us sing patriotic songs on this day and have 
the bands play patriotic music. Let us bring out the children and 
tell them about Yorktown, and Bunker Hill, about Gettysburg and 
Vicksburg and Appomattox, about San Juan Hill and Manilla Bay 
and Santiago, and let us not forget to tell them, also, about the 
brave deeds of the heroes who fought in the Battle of Tippecanoe, 
and to tell them that whether or not a monument is ever erected at 
this spot, the memory of the brave deeds of those who fought here 
will never perish. 



[9—19592] 



126 



Report of Commission. 



HON. GEORGE. D. PARKS. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



ADDRESS BY THE HON. GEORGE D. PARKS. 

(Tippecanoe Battle-Field Memorial, Sunday, June 25, 1896.) 



Ladies and Gentlemen — On these historic grounds we are as- 
sembled today to do honor to the brave men who on the morning of 
November 7th, 1811, engaged in sanguinary conflict with hordes of 
savages upon the identical spot where we now stand. 

This earth has been drenched in the blood of the loyal sons who 
gave their all, their lives, for the redemption of an empire in ex- 
tent from savage cruelty, torture and rapine. Perhaps no battle 
that was ever fought with the savages in this country has been so 
replete in results and effect for the spread of civilization and 
achievement in the gentle victories of peace. 

The Battle of Tippecanoe is not noted for the large numbers 
engaged, for probably General Harrison's whole force, officers and 
men, did not number a thousand souls, while the number of savages 
is unknown. Yet for the savage attack, the unfaltering resistance 
and active aggression on the part of all the troops, officers and men, 
it may well be pointed to with pride as a military achievement. En- 
camped upon this little peninsula of dry land a few hundred feet in 
width, elevated but ten or fifteen feet above the swamps into which 
it extended, just before the first light of the morning, the favorite 
hour for savage attack, this small force was suddenly attacked 
upon all sides by the savages concealed in the swamps and forest. 
Soldiers, at the first alarm, in reaching for their arms fell before 
their hands reached the rifle. Savages broke into the very camp, on 
the heels of the sentinels, and were killed in hand to hand strife. 
Out of the confusion order was quickly accomplished and the foe 
repulsed, to again and again return to the attack, while over and 
above the din and strife the voice of the Prophet from the height 
across Burnett's Creek, chanted his savage war song. Following 
the third attack a determined charge was made upon the enemy, 
who broke and fled to return no more. Nearly 25 per cent, of the 
entire force were killed or injured, which conclusively shows the 
sanguinary nature and stubborn character of the conflict. The 
savage loss was large but unknown. So much for the battle. Allow 
me for a moment to call to your attention something of preceding 
conditions and the momentus results of this historic event. 

For a period of forty years the citizens of this country, both 
before and after the War of the Revolution, had been endeavoring 



128 



Report of Commission. 



to enter upon and redeem from savage waste the land between the 
Alleghanies and the Mississippi River. An empire in extent. The 
soil of amazing fertility, covered almost entirely with dense forest, 
interspersed by occasional prairies, dotted with deer and buffalo, 
while through the forest depths roamed the wild animals and sav- 
age man. A noble land, only waiting for enlightened man in obe- 
dience to the divine command to "have dominion and subdue the 
earth." 

During these forty years a mighty army of hardy pioneers, 
principally of Anglo-Saxon descent, rude, fearless, of mighty bone 
and sinew, of matchless endurance, the vanguard of civilization, 
had fought and battled individually with the forces of nature's 
wilderness and the cunning warfare of a brave, crafty, ruthless 
savage race, who roamed the forests and the plains, only marking 
their trail with the charred remains of the cabin homes and the 
mutilated corpses of their victims. The savages who populated this 
land I have described had held back, retarded and almost frustrated 
for forty years the settlement of this magnificent domain, where 
now dwell more than all the people who lived in the thirteen colo- 
nies at the nation's birth. The chief Tecumseh for years had been 
traveling and laboring among the different tribes of savages from 
the gulf to the great lakes seeking to weld them together into 
united resistance to the advance of the Americans, covertly aided 
by the jealous British, and he was undoubtedly making rapid prog- 
ress, as was evidenced by signs of increased activity and concentra- 
tion of the savages along the border. 

His principal home was a few miles distant from this spot, at 
Prophet's Town, on the Wabash River. At this place was a 
notorious and cowardly medicine man, known as the Prophet, who 
deluded a large number of the savages at that point with the claim 
that his "medicine" and incantations would render the bullets of 
the whites harmless. When Harrison started on his march from 
Vincennes up the Valley of the Wabash toward Prophet's Town, 
where the savages were congregating, in response to the efforts of 
Tecumseh, in his absence in the South, the Prophet induced the 
savages to attack Harrison at this place. 

The Battle of Tippecanoe, thus prematurely brought on by 
the Prophet and the victory of the troops under Harrison, made 
futile the work of Tecumseh, and destroyed all hope of future re- 
sistance to white occupation. Never after was there anything like 
combination among the savages in resistance to the white advance. 

The Battle of Tippecanoe was, therefore, momentous in its re- 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



129 



suits, in that it removed the savage bar and opened up to peaceful 
settlement the great domain extending from the Appalachian moun- 
tains to the Father of Waters. More than fifteen millions of people 
now live upon the immediate territory thus relieved from savage 
rapine. As we meet here today in the full flush of civilization, 
peace, content, prosperity, where the smoke of mighty cities of in- 
dustry and commerce hangs in the air, where the rush and roar of 
a thousand railroad trains, carrying the products of a million farms 
and a thousand factories, drowns the noise of the self-binder in the 
field and the hum of the automobile on the turnpike, but the span 
of a lifetime separates us from the trackless waste of nature's riches 
and the horror of the savage war whoop, which drowned the feeble 
cries of the settler's infant, as he dashed it to death on the humble 
hearth stone. 

Was not the battle we commemorate momentous in result? The 
brave blood spilled on this earth was not shed in vain. Let us, then, 
ever do honor and reverence to Harrison and all his noble army, 
now, and in all the years to come. 




REVEREND GEORGE W. SWITZER. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 131 



ADDRESS BY THE REV. GEORGE W. SWITZER. 

(Tippecanoe Battle-Field Memorial, June 17, 1906.) 



Ladies and Gentlemen — I f eel that I have a special privilege this 
afternoon in speaking on this occasion for the society that has been 
organized and has continued its organization for a number of years 
for the very worthy purpose not only of memoralizing the soldiers 
who fell in the advancement of civilzation, but also for the purpose 
of keeping alive an interest in securing the monument which ought 
to be here to mark this battle-field, and in honor of the noble men 
who fell here. 

I think it necessary that I should say that the speaker engaged 
first for this afternoon was Congressman Watson, and we had hoped 
he could be present and deliver the address, and we know that an 
address delivered by him would be one worthy of the occasion and 
worthy of the man. But, on account of official duties, Mr. Wat- 
son found he would not be able to come, and I have taken the place 
■ — not his place — but the place of the speaker for the afternoon; 
and word has been sent to Mr. Watson that if he would see that the 
bill appropriating money for this purpose is pulled out of the pig- 
eon hole and passed by our Congress, we would excuse him for not 
coming. We hope he will do his part, or try as hard as I shall try 
to do my part in speaking to you this afternoon. I feel especially 
interested in meeting today with you in the fact that we have with 
us one Chief Gabriel Godfroy, the last of the Miamis, who has been 
known to us by reputation, and the historic records, representing a 
race in conflict with the soldiers, though neither himself nor his 
tribe were engaged in the conflict here. And I am glad he is also 
to speak to you this afternoon. So far as I know this is the first 
time on this anniversary occasion we have ever had the privilege 
of welcoming with us one of his race of our brother man. If there 
were a great number of them here from the tribes who were in the 
conflict, and they were to ask us what part we had in this conflict, 
or how could we right the wrongs they might feel that had been 
heaped upon them, we might have to answer like the boy in the 
Sunday school class, whose superintendent was reviewing the les- 
son, and, being of a severe turn of mind, he asked, "Who led the 
people of Israel out of Egypt?" No one answered, and the super- 
intendent repeated the question with more severity, and a little tow- 
headed fellow arose and said, "Please, sir, it wasn't me; I just came 



132 



Report of Commission. 



here from Missouri six weeks ago." (Laughter.) So we would 
plead an alibi, and be relieved from any embarrassment of the re- 
sponsibilities, however much we may share today in the benefits and 
blessings. Having with us this son of the great chief of the 
Miamis, I am also reminded that not long ago, during the exposi- 
tion at St. Louis, I had the pleasure, in the Indian Department, of 
meeting a young, cultured, refined, educated, fine-looking girl who 
belonged to the Shawnee tribe, and who told me that her grand- 
mother still lived, and was very conversant with the history of the 
Shawnee tribe when they lived on the banks of the Wabash in this 
State. 

My two grandfathers, about the year 1828, settled in Shelby 
township, in this county, and their farms were within three-quarters 
of a mile of where General Harrison and his troops slept on the 
night of November 5, 1811, and I drove past the place this morning 
and looked over the ground — now the fields of civilization — with so 
little of the traces of the army that was there ; and I crossed the 
trail of their march from there to this place. 

I am glad also today that there are so many descendants of the 
men who were personally engaged and well known to history here, 
to participate in these services. I am glad to know that the rela- 
tives of General Tipton are here, some of whom are citizens of La- 
fayette, and others from other points in the State; that there are 
relatives here of a soldier by the name of Moore who participated 
in this conflict, and others who trace their relationship clearly back 
to those of the militia who were engaged in this conflict. 

Within the past week I have looked over a number of the ad- 
dresses that have been delivered here from time to time, and which 
I hope will, in the course of time be published in permanent form. 
A number of them are of very high character. Judge DeHart, who 
is versed in the history of the early times as well as any of our citi- 
zens, has been a speaker on this platform. Mr. Reser, who has 
done much research, has presented from this platform an address 
of great worth. Judge Crumpacker, our congressman from this 
district, has presented from this platform an address that had in 
it research of a different character, but altogether a valuable paper 
to be preserved. Others have contributed their part. I have heard 
only one address from this platform, and that was the address of 
Gen. Lew Wallace, which address was characteristic of the man in 
form, and finish and force of delivery. The Hon. Henry Watter- 
son has been here, and Gen. John C. Black has been on this plat- 
form. The occasion has brought together here men from afar, as 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



133 



well as men at home ; and their addresses we hope will be preserved 
and thus hand down to coming generations a history of the events 
pertaining to this, one of the largest battles, and altogether the 
most important battle that was ever fought on Indiana soil, and 
the last great engagement that was fought east of the Mississippi 
between the white soldiers and the Indians. I think I speak cor- 
rectly when I say this- — the last great battle fought. We are in- 
debted to Professor Pence of Purdue University for a survey and 
a location of the line or march, the publication of the same, and the 
gathering together in this little folder which we used here last Oc- 
tober at the time of the celebration of the opening of our street car 
line, of these interesting data. He has served us better than he 
knew in this, and he has also become interested, and is now bringing 
to us some rich results of his research — things that have to be 
brought from far different points, but being put together, are ma- 
king history, and leaving a record that will be valuable for future 
reference. 

I only need to say a word, but I think that word should be said 
for the benefit of the younger people, about the coming of General 
Harrison from Vincennes with about nine hundred men — not all 
of them reaching here — some of them being left at different places 
along the line of march, to guard the stock that was left for use 
on the return march. He started for the Prophet's Town — he 
started for this place, here, to visit the town of the Prophet, and 
to meet with them for peace and to obtain, if possible, a settlement 
of the difference that had arisen between the Indians and the set- 
tlers. I would like this afternoon to pay a tribute to Tecumseh. 
General Wallace said Tecumseh was to be likened to Caesar — that 
he was a man who was both a warrior and a statesman. Taking 
everything into consideration — the state of morals, and civilization 
of ninety-five years ago, Tecumseh was a man of high ideals ; a 
man who in war could observe courtesy and moral principles ; and 
he assured General Harrison that the women and children were not 
in danger from his men; that he would conduct his campaign only 
against men. Tecumseh rebuked his own men for immorality and 
dissipation ; and he plead with them far beyond what we might ex- 
pect at that time, away from brutality and savagery. General Har- 
rison had met Tecumseh before he started from Vincennes. He 
met him when General Harrison was serving under General Wayne 
in Ohio. He had met him a number of times personally. Because 
Tecumseh denied the right of the several tribes to cede away the 
land that belonged to them as tribes, wishing to form the entire 



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domain as a confederacy, and because of General Harrison's dif - 
ference of opinion and belief that there was no injustice done to 
make a treaty for its possessions, they never came together; and 
so Harrison, Tecumseh having gone on to the South, perhaps as 
far as Mississippi, gathered together some United States troops, 
some Kentucky and Indiana militia, and made his march with nine 
hundred men the long distance of more than one hundred and fifty 
miles from Vincennes, crossing the Wabash River on this side of 
Terre Haute, and coming the rest of the way along the west bank 
of the Wabash. This was a rich territory for the Indians of the 
past. Their towns and their villages and the population was as 
numerous here in this territory as perhaps was to be found any- 
where in all the Mississippi Valley. A congressman who spoke to 
us two or three years ago, and who has given a great deal of study 
to the Indian question, thought that Ouiatenon, the old French 
fort of Ouiatenon, down the Wabash, built by the French and aft- 
erwards possessed by the English, and then by the Indians, had per- 
haps, the largest population of any Indian town in America, for 
their population must be limited to the resources of the surround- 
ing country for a food supply. No very large population could 
come together. Fish and game must be found in sufficient quanti- 
ties with the fertile valleys for the raising of the corn they pro- 
duced. And so there was not a large population anywhere. The 
conflict here with fewer than one thousand men on each side was not 
a battle to be compared with many of the battles that have been 
fought where hundreds of thousands of men have been gathered. 
But it was a battle justified on the part of those we represent today. 
We can hardly conceive the pillage and destruction that threatened 
the whole civilization of that day, which had climbed over the Alle- 
ghany mountain range, and was making its way slowly but certainly 
toward the West. The decision of this battle was the overthrow of 
Tecumseh's conspiracy — a conspiracy of the tribes. It caused a 
scattering of the Indians, and the onward march of civilization, 
unimpeded, was hastened, and today, ninety-five years afterward, 
we have a transformation that is more marvelous than it is possible 
for any mind to dream of. So that is the occasion that brings us 
here. We come with all animosities died out. We come without 
hatred and without malice. We come as friendly as the blue and 
the gray who meet on southern battle-fields to talk over the strug- 
gle, to talk over the conflict, to rejoice in the victories, and the na- 
tion that lives undivided under one flag with one united people. So 
we come rejoicing that these one hundred years, almost, that have 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



135 



passed have given us more and more a consciousness that we owe a 
great debt — a debt we may never pay — a debt we ought to try, as 
far as possible, to pay; we owe a debt to those who occupied this 
great country, and lived here, in pursuit of such form of life as 
they chose. We come in this day without animosity, to gather up 
our duties and, as far as possible, to aid the Indian. I rejoice in 
every Indian school. I rejoice in all that is being done today to 
preserve the great number — for they are not yet a few — the great 
number of aboriginal inhabitants of this country. I rejoice in their 
civilization, in their christianization, in their opportunities for use- 
fulness, and the preservation of their blood as a strain that shall 
flow into our American life. 

Not long ago — a year ago, I think it was a few weeks past a 
year — I came down on a train from Cleveland, and on the train I 
sat across the aisle from an Indian, and I learned that he was a 
splendid layman of the Oklahoma country, and he had been to a 
church meeting — a conference of one of the branches of the Pres- 
byterian church that had met over in Pennsylvania. He had been 
there as a Christian man, as a Christian layman — there to plead for 
his race. There was an exhibition of what Christianity may become 
to a man ; and they said to me that he had made a speech that had 
stirred the great congregation because of its eloquence, its pathos, 
and its plea for his race, and because of what he exhibited in his 
own heart, and in his own life. Pie had the mark of the wild West 
upon him — had the scars of conflict on him, and yet he had within 
him the heart of a Christian man, and had within his mind a great 
desire for the betterment of his race. We rejoice in these things 
today, and we trust that our government may not only be generous, 
but may be honest as well with this race. The present Governor 
of South Dakota, Governor Elrod, an Indiana boy, told me not 
long ago, that he had served for a number of years in disbursing the 
funds that the government gave the Indians for their territory, and 
that he had been in every tribe and place gathering them up and 
seeing that the last cent that was due them was put into their hands.. 
That we have not been honest with them is well established. It has 
been said by one who has spoken keenly and humorously, that when 
our forefathers came to this country the first thing they did was to 
fall on their knees, and then they fell on the aborigines. We have 
done more of that than we care to own up to, unless we are anxious 
that the belief that is ours, that we shall be faithful in the future to 
give to these people the rights that they deserve, and that the bene- 
fits and culture of civilization may be vouchsafed to them; that as 



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they may live with us they may find, as we may find of them, a 
better acquaintance and a better confidence, and a restored friend- 
ship, and the great nation under whose flag we may together live, 
and in whose service we may together work. 

The occasion that brings us here this afternoon is that we may 
with flowers and flags decorate the last resting place of these men 
who fell here in battle. True, there were not many of them. So 
far as I know the first shot was fired almost from this spot, and the 
first Indian killed was just a little way beyond. Over here is a 
mound that marks the last resting place of the soldiers who fell — 
thirty-seven of them — some of them as noble and brave as ever fell 
in battle anywhere. There repose the remains of Spencer and Owen, 
and Daviess, officers of noble character and soldierly bearing. And 
there are the remains of those of the Indiana militia who fell, and 
the regulars who went down, and who gave their lives as truly as 
men ever gave their lives on any battle-field. I need not go into a 
description of the battle. Their bones were buried here. Their 
bodies were left here. Harrison left here on the 9th day, and in a 
few days he was marching back toward the seat of the government 
of this territory. Afterwards these bodies — by whom we know not 
— were dug from the ground, and scattered, and their bones 
bleached in the sun. About twenty years afterward there was a 
gathering here, and all of them that could be found — the bones that 
were scattered here and there — were gathered together and buried 
again ; and while these mounds here do not mark the resting place 
of any special man, yet beneath the sod there rest these men that 
fell in this battle that broke the federation of the tribes, that was 
combining for the driving out of this Mississippi Valley the civili- 
zation that had climbed over the Alleghanies. The confederacy 
was broken. Civilization came, and our grandfathers settled here. 

This is a rich land, and we would be without honor to ourselves, 
and without any conscientiousness of having done our duty, if we 
were to let this matter go by, and be indifferent to the fact that 
those who fought here gave to us and to civilization this rich land. 
If I am correct in my statement General Tipton, one who was here 
as an ensign — a young man in the battle — whose captain fell, whose 
lieutenant also fell, and when General Harrison met him and said, 
"Where is your captain?" he said, "He is dead, sir." "Where is 
your lieutenant?" "He is dead, sir." "And who are you?" "I am 
the ensign holding the company, and I was put in command." It 
was no wonder his heart turned back to this place, and that he 
bought this land, and that he gave this land to the State of Indiana 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



137 



to be preserved as a battle-field belonging to the State, and that it 
should be kept perpetually. We received this land from Genera] 
Tipton, and we owe it to him and to ourselves to care for it. 

In looking over the messages of President Madison, is a mes- 
sage to Congress on the 5th of November, 1811, two days before 
the battle was fought, in which he called attention to this confed- 
eracy, and the possibility of trouble here in the West under General 
Harrison. It was a time, of course, of slow communication, and I 
was surprised to find that on the 18th, I think, of December, of 
the same year, he sent a special message to Congress, calling atten- 
tion to his former message in November; and he said then: "The 
battle has been fought and the victory has been won, and the men 
who fell in the battle are deserving, and their families are deserv- 
ing of special recognition and care by the government." 

If President Madison felt at that time that the families of these 
men were deserving of special care, how much more, and in a larger 
sense, ought we to feel that these men and the memory of them, and 
a regard for them, should be deserving of a special attention on 
our part. It seems to me there is only one argument for this great 
purpose of erecting here a monument that shall suitably express 
the conflict and the consequences of that battle that has been so 
memorable in the making of the history of the civilization in the 
Mississippi Valley. We are living so close to the past that we have 
not yet reached the time when we can appreciate the memorial or 
the monument, and of what it may speak. If we start at the foot 
of Bunker Hill monument, and climb to its top, and look out over 
the battle-field of that great conflict, it seems to me no American 
can do that without feeling an eloquence and inspiration. It makes 
for character; it makes for reputation; it makes for patriotism; 
it makes for devotion to country. 

I stood time and again for a few weeks looking upon that great 
monument to Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square, London. That 
great statue of Nelson, chiseled out of stone, is elevated high upon 
its pedestal so that it can be seen from every part almost of that 
great city. Upon that stone there is chiseled the immortal words, 
"England expects every man to do his duty." The monument to 
Nelson prevents him and what he did from being forgotten. It is 
an eloquent plea to England's present and coming generations, and 
no doubt that monument is largely influential in producing that 
characteristic that makes every Britisher so loyal, to his heart's 
core, to his country. 

Our monument at Indianapolis, beautiful, artistic, graceful, in- 



138 



Report of Commission. 



viting, stands there in that circle. We have not begun to feel the 
power of it yet. It means more than those who fell. It means the 
cause ; it means the consequences. It stands there as a monument to 
Indiana's part in the great conflict of the sixties ; as a monument to 
the fact that there was scarcely a battle in all that great conflict of 
more than four years but what Indiana men participated in; that 
there was scarcely a battle in which there was a great loss of life, or 
any loss of life, that Indiana's men were not nearer the ranks of 
the enemy than the men of any other State of the Union. (Ap- 
plause.) That is history. We are proud of it. (Renewed ap- 
plause.) We can not afford to dispense with it. If we were to 
pay over one hundred times all it cost, we could not afford to be 
without it. We could not afford to dispense with its eloquent 
silence. We could not afford to let our old Hoosier State do with- 
out this tribute to the patriotism of its soldiers. It means more 
than Indiana ; it means more than Kentucky also. It means the 
whole Mississippi Valley. It means more than that. It means our 
whole nation. 

These men who fell here, and who fought here, made their 
march through a wilderness, part of the time transporting their 
provision barges on the Wabash, part of the time hauling them 
in wagons through the forests, without roads; making their way 
fearlessly and bravely into the heart of this country, knowing the 
territory and knowing the dangers — they came here, if possible, 
without bloodshed, to have a solution and settlement of the conflict, 
but if bloodshed must come to meet it bravely, and bravely they 
did meet it. 

The amount asked for this monument is but a pittance out of 
the treasury of our land. We can not afford not to do it. So I 
come this afternoon speaking these words for this cause. I trust 
that tomorrow morning when the good people of Battle Ground 
and Lafayette will entertain the three hundred editors who will be 
here, and who will stand here on the battle-field and see the decora- 
tions and the flowers and flags, and who will then scatter to their 
hemes in three hundred different places — I hope they will carry with 
them a fire of enthusiasm that shall be poured into the hearts and 
consciences of their congressmen until that bill shall be brought for- 
ward and receive not a dissenting vote and be passed, and that a 
tribute so deserving shall stand here within a few years to mark 
this historic spot. (Applause.) I go past here on the Monon fre- 
quently ; and seldom do I pass here on a through train, when 
we pass this battle-field, that I do not see more than one in every 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



car looking at this historic ground and talking about it. It is a 
place that is known. The other day I came here with an ambassa- 
dor, a diplomat, a scholar and a statesman, and when on the battle- 
field I gave him one of these little pamphlets, and he sat down to 
look it over, and familiarize himself with the details, although he 
was familiar with the general history of the conflict. It interested 
him very much. So we want to disseminate and scatter these details 
and the history of this conflict, and the results, and thus we shall 
soon find a rising tide coming to bear this great cause on to a suc- 
cessful issue. 

I plead for the men who have organized and stood back of this 
project, the men who have pushed it forward, the men who have a 
determination to stand for this great cause until the end has been 
accomplished. 

This is a great time in our civilization. We may be at a pecu 
liar epoch. We do not know. But it is a time not for crimination 
and recrimination. It is a time for hope. It is a time for optimism 
It is a time to have confidence in our State and in our government. 
It is a time when we should be watchful and careful as to our sol- 
diers in time of war. It is a time to be broad and generous ; a time 
to make such a record as will lift our State and our country through 
this period up into a clearer atmosphere, up into a holier life, and 
into a broader citizenship; a time for our statesmanship to rise so 
far above the demagogue that there will be no chance whatever for 
him who has only his own glory, to get a burning passion in his 
soul for the welfare of our flag and all it represents. 

Now, my friends, I have spoken as long as I ought to speak, 
and perhaps longer. One thing I noticed in regard to all the 
speeches I saw, and that was their brevity, and I am reminded I 
must not detain you. I am glad so many are here today. Not to 
hear me have you come, but you have come to hear a brother man 
who comes today to help us in the inspiration of this noble cause. 
You have come because there is a growing interest in this great 
cause. So I commit to you the personal interest, the personal en- 
thusiasm, the personal influence, so far as it can come, that every- 
where you may go shall be toward this end, that a monument may 
be erected here that shall stand and speak to the centuries to follow, 
a lesson of our struggle and the victor v which we shall win. I 
thank you. 



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Report of Commission. 




THOMAS J. WILSON. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



141 



ADDRESS BY THOMAS J. WILSON, 

(Delivered at Tippecanoe Battle-Ground, Sunday, June 16, 1907.) 

[Mr. Thomas J. Wilson is a Great Grandson of Captain Spier Spencer, 
Killed at the Battle of Tippecanoe.] 



Ladies and Gentlemen — It is significant of the unsettled condi- 
tions in this country in the early part of the last century, and a 
striking proof of how little attention was paid to facts that would 
be welcomed by the historians of today, that men whose deeds of 
daring and patriotism made our State and its early development 
possible, came, did their duty, and died; and today, fewer than 
one hundred years later, the vast majority of their descendants can 
not tell the date of their birth, nor the place from whence they came 
to settle in this State. 

Spier Spencer was acting as sheriff of Harrison County prior 
to 1811, when General Harrison was organizing his army with 
which to meet the coming attempt of the great chieftain, Tecum- 
seh, and his brother, the Prophet, to organize the Indians and drive 
the white man from the Northwest. Tradition has it that he came 
to the little village of Cory don, which after his death was to be 
the State as well as the territorial capital, about the year 1809, 
from Vincennes. It is also said that he was one of Mad Anthony 
Wayne's seasoned veterans, and the fact that his wife was Delilah 
Polk, of Kentucky, who was herself when a child held captive by 
the Indians for eleven months, would indicate that his life was spent 
on the frontier, and a strong probability that he was born in Ken- 
tucky himself, a probability strengthened by the fact that his 
brother George, who was with him in his last battle, was living at 
one time in that State. 

It was natural that he should organize from the brave and spir- 
ited pioneers who were settling southern Indiana a company to 
serve under Harrison in the defense of their homes and little ones. 
Knowing the dangers and hardships of a long Indian campaign as 
he did, proof of the desperate need for more men and of the man's 
intense patriotism is shown by the taking with him of his son, Ed- 
ward, a child of but fourteen years of age, but well grown and able 
to carry a rifle. His brother, George Spencer, was in the company 
of forty-seven men, exclusive of the officers, and we hear of John 
M. Tuell, Zachariah Ingram, William Hurst, Elijah Hurst, James 
Hubbard, Elijah Hubbard, Samuel Pfrimmer, Daniel Cline, John 

L10— 19592] 



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Report of Commission. 



Cline, James Watts, Abraham Walk, Samuel Flanagan, Jacob 
Zenor, a McMahon, a Buskirk and a Bogard. The company was 
called the Yellow Jackets. 

Purposely or accidentally, his company was the one placed 
where the most bloody fighting in all that bloody fight was done. 

The Indians were in hand to hand combat with our men at times, 
and Spier Spencer, in the front rank, was soon shot down. 

Samuel Pfrimmer and Bogard lifted him in their arms and 
started to carry him to a protected place, but a second bullet struck 
him in his shoulder, and, ranging lengthwise through his body, 
killed him almost instantly. Harrison seeing the critical condition 
of affairs, rode up, as related by one of his staff, and asked of 
Ensign Tipton, "Where is your captain?" "Dead, sir," was the 
reply. "Where is your first lieutenant?" "Dead, sir." "Where is 
your second-lieutenant?" Dead, sir." "Where is your ensign?" 
"He stands before you." "Hold your position a little longer, my 
brave lad, and I will send you assistance," the General replied. 

The battle lasted two hours and twenty minutes, and in addi- 
tion to Captain Spencer, Lieutenant McMahan and Captain Berry, 
attached to the company, there were five others killed and fifteen 
wounded, a total of twenty -three out of forty-seven, or fifty per 
cent, of dead and wounded. 

Among the wounded was George Spencer, the brother, who was 
so badly injured that he died when they reached the Wabash on 
their way home. 

General Harrison, with the kindness of the truly great, took 
the fatherless boy, Edward, under his care for the remainder of the 
campaign, and then secured his admission into West Point, assign- 
ing as a reason, bravery shown on the field of battle ; and later he 
secured admission of a younger son to the same institution. And 
from that time on, there has always been in the army of the United 
States some descendant of Spier Spencer, trying to live up to the 
standard of bravery and patriotism set for them by him who has 
slept so long beneath this soil. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



118 



ADDRESS BY GABRIEL GODFROY. 

(At Tippecanoe Battle-ground, Sunday, June 16, 1907.) 



My Kind Friends — I have got no learning. I have no educa- 
tion. I cannot talk to you like the white man. I can only tell you 
of things I have seen and that have been told me. My father lived 
near Peru. I was born there. I cannot read or write. When a 
little boy I passed through Lafayette on my way to a Catholic 
school at Vincennes. I could only use the Miami language. We 
went from Lafayette to Vincennes on a packet boat. I was only 
six months there when my mother got homesick for me and I went 
home on a sleigh. I went home and went to hunting squirrels, and 
never went to school any more. My people, the Miamis, made peace 
with the whites in Washington's time and we never violated it. My 
people did not take part in the battle of Tippecanoe. If they had, 
the result would have been different, for it was very close anyhow. 
The red men made their treaties and kept them, but the white men 
did not. Whenever they were dissatisfied they would give us a 
little money and then make a new treaty. I am a Miami. My 
father was half Indian and half French, and his name was Francis 
Godfroy. I was born in 1834. The Miamis were the stoutest and 
swiftest of all the Indians. Indian always keeps his word ; white 
man don't. White man mighty uncertain. (Laughter.) I used 
to own a good deal of land. I have only forty-eight acres now. I 
was cheated out of my property by the white man. I have had 
nineteen children and three wives. Indian believe in big families 
like President Roosevelt. (Laughter.) My second wife was a 
granddaughter of Frances Slocum. I often saw Frances Slocum. 
She looked like a squaw, not like a white woman. She was a pretty 
large woman but not very tall. Her picture looks like her. I 
married the granddaughter of Frances Slocum in 1858. The 
Miamis, all except three families, were sent across the Mississippi 
in 1846, to Kansas, and afterwards to the Territory. Frances 
grieved when her people were sent away, and soon died, in 1847. 
Her daughter died the same month. Frances was stolen by a Dela- 
ware Indian and lived near Niagara Falls. This Delaware Indian 
would never stay where there were many Indians, but would move 
way off to himself for fear some one would steal the child. Frances 
was a very stout young girl. She could break ponies, and could 
jump on ponies when they were running. One day when she was 



144 



Report of Commission. 




GABRIEL GODFROY. 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



145 



living with her Delaware father, she found a wounded Indian 
leaning against a tree. She and her Delaware Indian father took 
this Indian, who was a Miami, and nursed him back to health. 
When he got well he hunted for the Delaware, who was getting old, 
to pay him for taking care of him. When the Delaware came to 
die, he said to the man, "You have been good to me. You shall 
have this white woman for a wife." So, after the death of the 
Delaware, this Miami, who was deaf, took Frances as his wife, and 
went back among the Miamis, where he had been chief soldier, and 
became chief, and lived at Deaf Man's Village, on the Mississinewa. 
He died in 1833, when Frances was quite a young woman. I have 
sold the relics of Frances Slocum for three hundred dollars, and 
they have gone to Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, and to Detroit. I 
had to have the money. I used to run races when I was young. 
One time I ran a race with a white man. In the first race the white 
man beat me ; but I saw he was short-winded ; so in the next race, I 
doubled the distance, and beat him easily. The word Wabash means 
White Stone River ; Tippecanoe means Buffalo Fish ; Mississinewa 
means Falling Water. I am glad you put up monument to white 
man, for white man was brave. So was Indian. 



146 



Report of Commission. 



JUDGE ISAAC NAYLOR'S DESCRIPTION OF THE 
BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE. 

(From a Lately Discovered Manuscript.) 



I became a volunteer member of a company of riflemen, and on 
the 12th of September, 1811, we commenced our march toward Vin- 
cennes, and arrived there in about six days, marcliing about 120 
miles. We remained there about a week and took up the march 
to a point on the Wabash River sixty miles above, on the east 
bank of the river, where we erected a stockade fort, which we 
named Fort Harrison. This was three miles above where the city 
of Terre Haute now stands. Col. Joseph H. Daviess, who com- 
manded the dragoons, named the fort. The glorious defense of 
this fort nine months after by r Captain Zachary Taylor was the 
first step in his brilliant career that afterwards made him President 
of the United States. A few days later we took up the march 
again for the seat of Indian warfare, where we arrived on the even- 
ing of November 6, 1811. 

When the army arrived in view of the Prophet's town, an 
Indian was seen coming toward General Harrison with a white flag 
suspended on a pole. Here the army halted, and a parleys was had 
between General Harrison and an Indian delegation, who assured 
the General that they desired peace, and solemnly promised to meet 
him next day in council, to settle the terms of peace and friendship 
between them and the United States. 

Gen. Marston G. Clark, who was then brigade major, and 
Waller Taylor, one of the judges of the General Court of the Ter- 
ritory of Indiana, and afterwards a Senator of the United States 
from Indiana (one of the General's aides), were ordered to select a 
place for the encampment, which they did. The army then marched 
to the ground selected about sunset. A strong guard was placed 
around the encampment, commanded by Capt. James Bigger and 
three lieutenants. The troops were ordered to sleep on their arms. 
The night being cold, large fires were made along the lines of 
encampment and each soldier retired to rest, sleeping on his arms. 

Having seen a number of squaws and children at the town I 
thought the Indians were not disposed to fight. About ten o'clock 
at night Joseph Warnock and myself retired to rest, he taking one 
side of the fire and I the other, the other members of our company 
being all asleep. My friend Warnock had dreamed, the night be- 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



147 



fore, a bad dream which foreboded something fatal to him or to 
some of his family, as he told me. Having myself no confidence in 
dreams, I thought but little about the matter, although I observed 
that he never smiled afterwards. 

I awoke about four o'clock the next morning, after a sound and 
refreshing sleep, having heard in a dream the firing of guns and 
the whistling of bullets just before I awoke from my slumber. A 
drizzling rain was falling and all things were still and quiet 
throughout the camp. I was engaged in making a calculation when 
I should arrive home. 

In a few moments I heard the crack of a rifle in the direction of 
the point where now stands the Battle Ground House, which is oc- 
cupied by Captain DuTiel as a tavern* I had just time to think 
that some sentinel was alarmed and fired his rifle without a real 
cause, when I heard the crack of another rifle, followed by an awful 
Indian yell all around the encampment. In less than a minute I 
saw the Indians charging our line most furiously and shooting a 
great many rifle balls into our camp fires, throwing the live coals 
into the air three or four feet high. 

At this moment my friend Warnock was shot by a rifle ball 
through his body. He ran a few yards and fell dead on the ground. 
Our lines were broken and a few Indians were found on the inside 
of the encampment. In a few moments they were all killed. Our 
lines closed up and our men in their proper places. One Indian was 
killed in the back part of Captain Geiger's tent, while he was at- 
tempting to tomahawk the Captain. 

The sentinels, closely pursued by the Indians, came to the 
lines of the encampment in haste and confusion. My brother, 
William Naylor, was on guard. He was pursued so rapidly and 
furiously that he ran to the nearest point on the left flank, where 
he remained with a company of regular soldiers until the battle was 
near its termination. A young man, whose name was Daniel Pettit, 
was pursued so closely and furiously by an Indian as he was run- 
ning from the guard line to our lines, that to save his life he cocked 
his rifle as he ran and turning suddenly around, placed the muzzle 
of his gun against the body of the Indian and shot an ounce ball 
through him. The Indian fired his gun at the same instant, but it 
being longer than Pettit's the muzzle passed by him and set fire to a 
handkerchief which he had tied around his head. The Indians made 
four or five most fierce charges on our lines, yelling and screaming 

* The DuTiel Tavern was just north of the camp-meeting grounds and 
along the line of the Monon Railroad. — Alva O. Reser. 



148 



Report of Commission. 



as they advanced, shooting balls and arrows into our ranks. At 
each charge they were driven back in confusion, carrying off their 
dead and wounded as they retreated. 

Colonel Owen, of Shelby County, Kentucky, one of General 
Harrison's volunteer aides, fell early in action by the side of the 
General. Ke was a member of the legislature at the time of his 
death. Colonel Daviess was mortally wounded early in the battle, 
gallantly charging the Indians on foot with his sword and pistols, 
according to his own request. He made this request three times of 
General Harrison, before he was permitted to make the charge. 
This charge was made by himself and eight dragoons on foot near 
the angle formed by the left flank and front line of the encampment. 
Colonel Daviess lived about thirty-six hours after he was wounded, 
manifesting his ruling passions in life- — ambition, patriotism and an 
ardent love of military glory. During the last hours of his life he 
said to his friends around him that he had but one thing to regret — 
that he had military talents ; that he was about to be cut down in 
the meridian of life without having an opportunity of displaying 
them for his own honor, and the good of his country. He was 
buried alone with the honors of war near the right flank of the 
army, inside of the lines of the encampment, between two trees. 
On one of these trees the letter "D" is now visible. Nothing but 
the stump of the other remains. His grave was made here, to 
conceal it from the Indians. It was filled up to the top with earth 
and then covered with oak leaves. I presume the Indians never 
found it. This precautionary act was performed as a mark of 
peculiar respect for a distinguished hero and patriot of Kentucky. 

Captain Spencer's company of mounted riflemen composed the 
right flank of the army. Captain Spencer and both his lieutenants 
were killed. John Tipton was elected and commissioned as captain 
of this company in one hour after the battle, as a reward for his 
cool and deliberate heroism displayed during the action. He died 
at Logansport in 1839, having been twice elected Senator of the 
United States from the State of Indiana. 

The clear, calm voice of General Harrison was heard in words 
of heroism in every part of the encampment during the action. 
Colonel Boyd behaved very bravely after repeating these words : 
"Huzza! My sons of gold, a few more fires and victory will be 
ours ! " 

Just after daylight the Indians retreated across the prairie to- 
ward their town, carrying off their wounded. This retreat was 
from the right flank of the encampment, commanded by Captains 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



149 



Spencer and Robb, having retreated from the other portions of the 
encampment a few minutes before. As their retreat became visible, 
an almost deafening and universal shout was raised by our men. 
"Huzza ! Huzza ! Huzza !" This shout was almost equal to that 
of the savages at the commencement of the battle ; ours was the 
shout of victory, theirs was the shout of ferocious but disappointed 
hope. 

The morning light disclosed the fact that the killed and 
wounded of our army, numbering between eight and nine hundred 
men, amounted to one hundred and eight. Thirty-six Indians were 
found near our lines. Many of their dead were carried off during 
the battle. This fact was proved by the discovery of many Indian 
graves recently made near their town. Ours was a bloody victory, 
theirs a bloody defeat. 

Soon after breakfast an Indian chief was discovered on the 
prairie, about eighty yards from our front line, wrapped in a 
piece of white cloth. He was found by a soldier by the name of 
Miller, a resident of Jeffersonville, Indiana. The Indian was 
wounded in one of his legs, the ball having penetrated his knee and 
passed down his leg, breaking the bone as it passed. Miller put 
his foot against him and he raised up his head and said: "Don't 
kill me, don't kill me." At the same time five or six regular soldiers 
tried to shoot him, but their muskets snapped and missed fire. 
Major Davis Floyd came riding toward him with dragoon sword 
and pistols and said he would show them how to kill Indians, when 
a messenger came from General Harrison commanding that he 
should be taken prisoner. He was taken into camp, where the sur- 
geons dressed his wounds. Here he refused to speak a word of 
English or tell a word of truth. Through the medium of an inter- 
preter he said that he was a friend to the white people and that the 
Indians shot him while he was coming to the camp to tell General 
Harrison that they were about to attack the army. He refused to 
have his leg amputated, though he was told that amputation was 
the only means of saving his life. One dogma of Indian supersti- 
tion is that all good and brave Indians, when they die, go to a 
delightful region, abounding with deer and other game, and to be 
a successful hunter he should have all his limbs, his gun and his 
dog. He therefore preferred death with all his limbs to life with- 
out them. In accordance with his request he was left to die, in 
company with an old squaw, who was found in the Indian town the 
next day after he was taken prisoner. They were left in one of our 
tents. 



150 



Report of Commission. 



At the time this Indian was taken prisoner, another Indian, who 
was wounded in the body, rose to his feet in the middle of the prairie 
and began to walk towards the woods on the opposite side. A num- 
ber of regular soldiers shot at him but missed him. A man who 
was a member of the same company with me, Henry Huckleberry, 
ran a few steps into the prairie and shot an ounce ball through his 
body and he fell dead near the margin of the woods. Some Ken- 
tucky volunteers went across the prairie immediately and scalped, 
him, dividing his scalp into four pieces, each one cutting a hole in 
each piece, putting the ramrod through the hole, and placing his 
part of the scalp just behind the first thimble of his gun, near its 
muzzle. Such was the fate of nearly all of the Indians found 
dead on the battle-ground, and such was the disposition of their 
scalps. 

The death of Owen, and the fact that Daviess was mortally 
wounded, with the remembrance also that a large portion of Ken- 
tucky's best blood had been shed by the Indians, must be their 
apology for this barbarous conduct. Such conduct will be excused 
by all who witnessed the treachery of the Indians, and saw the 
bloody scenes of this battle. 

Tecumseh being absent at the time of the battle, a chief called 
White Loon was the chief commander of the Indians. He was seen 
in the morning after the battle, riding a large white horse in the 
woods across the prairie, where he was shot at by a volunteer named 
Montgomery, who is now living in the southwest part of this State. 
At the crack of his rifle the horse jumped as if the ball had hit him. 
The Indian rode off toward the town and we saw him no more. 
During the battle the Prophet was safely located on a hill, beyond 
the reach of our balls, praying to the Great Spirit to give victory 
to the Indians, having previously assured them that the Great 
Spirit would change our powder into ashes and sand. 

We had about forty head of beef cattle when we came to the 
battle. They all ran off the night of the battle, or they were driven 
off by the Indians, so that they were all lost. We received rations 
for two days on the morning after the action. We received no more 
rations until the next Tuesday evening, being six days afterwards. 
The Indians having retreated to their town, we performed the 
solemn duty of consigning to their graves our dead soldiers, with- 
out shrouds or coffins. They were placed in graves about two feet 
deep, from five to ten in each grave. 

General Harrison having learned that Tecumseh was expected 
to return from the south with a number of Indians whom he had en- 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



151 



listed in his cause, called a council of his officers, who advised him 
to remain on the battle-field and fortify his camp by a breastwork 
of logs, about four feet high. This work was completed during the 
day and all the troops were placed immediately behind each line of 
the work when they were ordered to pass the watchword from right 
to left every five minutes, so that no man was permitted to sleep 
during the night. The watchword on the night before the battle 
was "Wide awake, Wide awake." To me it was a long, cold, cheer- 
less night. 

On the next day the dragoons went to Prophet's Town, which 
they found deserted by all the Indians, except an old squaw, whom 
they brought into the camp and left her with the wounded chief 
before mentioned. The dragoons set fire to the town and it was 
all consumed, casting up a brilliant light amid the darkness of the 
ensuing night. I arrived at the town when it was about half on 
fire. I found large quantities of corn, beans and peas. I filled 
my knapsack with these articles and carried them to the camp and 
divided them with the members of our mess, consisting of six men. 
Having these articles of food, we declined eating horse flesh, which 
was eaten by a large portion of our men. 



152 



Report of Commission. 



Report of Federal Commissioners. 



Indianapolis, Ind., November 23, 1908. 

To The Honorable, The Secretary of War: 

Sir — The Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument Commission re- 
spectfully reports that it has completed the service for which it 
was appointed, and submits the following account of its proceed- 
ings : 

Under the Federal statute authorizing the construction of a 
monument on the Tippecanoe battle-field, and appropriating 
$12,500 therefor, J. Frank Hanly, Governor of the State of Indi- 
ana, Mr. Job S. Sims, President of the Tippecanoe Battle-field 
Memorial Association, and Mr. Albert A. Jones, were appointed 
commissioners on behalf of the Federal Government. Under the 
statute of the State of Indiana authorizing the construction of 
such monument and appropriating a like amount, Mr. Sims, Mr. 
Jones and Mr. Wesley E. Wells were appointed commissioners on 
behalf of the State. 

The Federal Commission organized by electing J. Frank Hanly, 
chairman, and Mr. Albert A. Jones as secretary. The State Com- 
mission elected Mr. Job S. Sims, chairman, and Mr. Albert A. 
Jones as secretary. By the terms of the Federal statute the fund 
appropriated by the State was required to be paid into the hands 
of the Federal authorities before a contract for the erection of the 
monument could be let. This was done by the Indiana Commission. 
Its work therefore closed, but Mr. Wells continued to co-operate 
with the Federal Commission and rendered valuable services until 
the completion and dedication of the monument. 

Plans, specifications and contract for the proposed monument 
were submitted to your honorable predecessor and by him approved. 
The contract was let to McDonnell & Sons, of Buffalo, New York, 
for the sum of $24,500, and was by them completed November 6th, 
1908, and the monument immediately thereafter accepted by the 
Commission. It is constructed of white Barre granite, all inscrip- 
tion plates being in Montello granite. It is beautiful, dignified 
and imposing in character, and constitutes a fitting memorial to 



RC 10.5* 



Tippecanoe Battle-field Monument. 



153 



the brave men whose valor it commemorates. It was unveiled with 
impressive ceremonies, November 7th, 1908, on the ninety-seventh 
anniversary of the battle. 

A statement of receipts and expenditures, showing disburse- 
ments in detail, is submitted herewith. 

Very respectfully submitted, 

J. Frank Hanly, 
Job S. Sims, 
Albert A. Jones, 

Federal Commissioners. 



154 



Report of Commission 



Financial Statement. 



RECEIPTS. 



From Federal Appropriation $12,500 00 

From State Appropriation 12,500 00 

$25,000 00 

EXPENDITURES. 

McDonnell & Sons, contractors, as per 

contract $24,500 00 

Job S. Sims, expenses as commissioner. . . • 21 00 

Wesley E. Wells, expenses as commis- 
sioner 19 15 

Albert A. Jones, expenses as commis- 
sioner 80 02 

General E. A. Carmen, representing the 

Secretary of War, expenses 53 95 

Secretary of War, expense of telegrams . 2 00 

Expenses incidental and unveiling 221 75 

Transportation of State troops for un- 
veiling 102 OS 

$24,999 90 

Unexpended balance 10 

$25,000 00 



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